Vannese Kleiss
by theWriterunknown
Summary: Vannese Kleiss isn't a normal teen. Her dad... Van Kliess, isn't a normal father. All her life she's lived in a secluded place, one blocked from the outside world. Hasn't been easy being her, but she knows were she belongs- she knows not allot of people get to say that. But something is changing in her secluded life...which soon becomes threatened. Set 23 years after last episode.
1. Meet Vannese

**Hey! thanks for taking a look at this fan-fic. this story takes place 22 years after the last episode when all the EVOs were cured, and I've always kind of wondered what happened after. (Especially since Van Kleiss got away seemingly from being cured) and I thought that I'd follow that story. I'd also thought it would be neat to see what Van Kleiss would be like if he was an actual father, not just a ****Tyrannical leader of The Pack (In my opinion he ends up acting kind of like Darth Vader, with no particular simulates though-just my opinion)**

**PS: Don't read too much into the technological/science stuff, I made most of it up as I went- I'm not that smart O_0.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Generator Rex belongs the creators/Cartoon Network.**

**-V-**

**Chapter one**

**-22 years later-**

Vannese had a small smile on her face, something between a smirk and a full grin. She was finally getting the chance to repair her miniature-version particle accelerator, a project she was just dying to get her hands on. She had been given precious moments of spare time-something that was a very_ rare _thing for her-most of the time she was working on things that were assigned to her by her guardian.

And, as you could imagine, she was very pleased when today he had granted her a few moments purely for the function of her own enjoyment and interest. _One whole hour_- her guardian must be feeling generous today… either that or the world is about to end and he figured she should be doing something that she likes during her last moments.

Vannese was now in what she likes to call a 'full-concentration- mode,' a moment when Vannese is so wrapped in her work that an explosion can go off behind her and she wouldn't have noticed. She had a few more kinks to work out before her particle accelerator was fully mended.

She doesn't want to go into full detail, but it had broken during a…_small_ _misunderstanding,_ between her and a rather pack-rat-tendency-filled family member_. _Vannese would rather not think about it: sometimes certain family members of hers just knew how to put a _chill_ in her nanites- even though she's known them her whole life. She wanted to keep those negative thoughts from ruining her 'full–concentration-mode' so she shoved them into the back of her mind and moved on.

She accidentally dropped a wrench and groaned. Now she was no longer in 'full concentration mode' anymore so the negative thoughts from the past came bursting out of the back of her mind. She picked up the wrench and started working again, trying to not think about how her miniature accelerator had been broken in the first place.

Here's basically what happened:She had found a component that would be perfect for her accelerator, sitting in an abandoned spot in the tunnels that made up her home. She had put the 'abandoned' (or so she thought) component in her accelerator without a thought to who it might have belonged to. Unfortunately for her, though, it _wasn't _just a spare piece of scrap just lying around. It was her auntie _Breach's. _A shiny thing that Breach treasured regardless that she needed it or not. And if there was one thing Vess knew, you mess with Breach's stuff, you might as well dig your own grave_-_her stuff was _everything _to Breach.

When Breach had found out Vannese (accidentally) had the nerve to take one of her things she had totally freaked and had opened one of her blood-red vortexes using her nanite powers. It had opened under the particle accelerator, which then slipped in and disappeared, and when the portal came back on the same spot it fell through looking like it had been _mangled _by a baseball bat. Vess didn't want to know where Breach had sent it for those few moments it was gone.

Breach claimed that she had simply left the component abandoned in the spot where Vess had found it because at the time she was leaving for a mission VK had assigned to her, and didn't have time to place it in her pocket dimension. But Vess knew Breach had left it there for her to find on purpose; so Breach can do a little demonstration of power, making sure Vess knew not to mess with her- or her stuff.

She sighed, remembering this. It felt like Breach was always trying to mess with her, playing at Vess's uncomfortableness around 'B 's vortexes like she was her personal doll that Breach was just waiting to put in her pocket dimension with the rest of her play-things. (Vess is short for Vannese, by the way, since she doesn't like a mouthful for a name)

Vess realized she was not working anymore and was frowning at the memory; she quickly expelled it from her mind and went back to her work, regaining her concentration. She was not going to let an upsetting memory get in the way of her me-time. She felt elated once more, working on one of her latest creations. She _loved_ to work on machines, to use her hands and unravel a puzzle that can do wondrous things.

Vess carefully reset one of the more delicate components in the machine, and then she pulled down her signature dusty-grey colored goggles over her eyes to protect them while she welded some of the wires together. She was nearly complete with the wire melding situation, but needed the conductor valve to line up with the smaller cables. Vess turned the welding torch on and very steadily began. She inhaled in some of the thin tunnel-cave air her home provided, and slowly whipped some sweat away from her brow, trying to be careful to not burn anything while she mended the wires.

She exhaled and inhaled deeply but slowly, trying to keep her movements as stoic as possible,_ steady… steady…_

The wires in her particle accelerator were different from regular wires, they were harder than steel, more flexible than cotton, and can stop a bullet point blank. The reason she used this material for the wires was so it can withstand the extreme pressure of energy that the machine accelerates but can still be welded if need be.

One more little fun fact about the material used for the wires- well, actually two- the wires can block out bio-energy signals given off by nanites- what that means is that you can't track or detect a person or an EVO around this material when you try to track them by the bio-metric signature every living thing gives off. Simple translation: this material when around you in the right conditions makes your nanites untraceable so certain baddies or unwanted peeps can't find you.

On another note the substance used for the wires also insulates Vess's home. Her caretaker says that's so no one on the outside can find them or their home. Because apparently people on the outside world hate EVO's like her and her family-_and for no reason at all_.

She doesn't really know what he means by 'outside' whenever he says it, considering she's never been there, but from what she's heard it's some sort of place that doesn't have any walls or ceilings.

I know, this sounds impossible, because how can a place have _no walls or ceilings_? She had just a few questions about it like, how _can_ there be no walls or ceilings. If it has no walls or ceilings, then what else _is_ there? If it has no walls, does it just go on forever? Does this forever have any color? How do you not get lost in such a place? Do you just wander in some sort of… some sort of… _nothingness_, forever if you get lost?

She shuddered. That sounded like a nightmare. For Vess the entire world just stopped at the tunnel walls and ceiling- and she was content that way.

But of course when she first heard about this 'outside' place her eager scientist mind wanted to explore it- or at least see what the heck he means by 'no walls'.

Though her caretaker is very adamant that she doesn't _want _to go to this outside, that it's actually dangerous place where people hurt and kill each other for no reason.

He says that she's very lucky she has never gotten to go outside before, and that many other people have not gotten the privilege of this kind of safety and welcome. That this is where she belongs, and not a lot of people get to say that,

Sometimes he fills her mind with stories of the outside world; he tells her things that make Vess not even want to think about the outside. Stories were people hurt other people or die because of something that could have been prevented…

The idea of this kind of world makes her head hurt- because this place just goes on and on forever, without stopping or rest; like a big rash of suffering you don't have any ointment for.

Not only this, but he says that there's this terrible group called 'Providence' that oppresses many people from glorious "revolution"…she doesn't know exactly what glorious revolution means but it sounds pretty great, so why oppress people from it?

He has told her that this 'Providence' is always scanning for EVO activity, and if she steps one foot on the outside realm where there is no material that keeps nanite activity hidden from radar they'll find her and do bad things to her just because she's an EVO. Vess thinks that Providence's philosophy is _stupid_ off the wazoo. If she met one of these 'Providences' she'd tell them that.

The wires were done welding so she put down her torch and pulled her goggles off her eyes and back to its place on the top of her head so she can better examined her work. Her brow furrowed ever so slightly with concentration, and she gently pinched a wire between her two gloved fingers to check it for any gaps or flaws.

Her gloves (or glove, she only wears one) are black, and made out of a sort of thick cloth that was good for when she was working around machinery, Vess wore it all the time even when she wasn't working; it comforted her just to have it on, which was just how she felt about her goggles.

When the wire passed her inspection she checked the other ones she just did too- carefully, one by one.

A few minutes later of unwavering focus and skilled craftsmanship (or at least _she_ likes to think so, the skilled craftsmanship part,) Vess couldn't help but feel like something was missing- something that radiates in the air, something that fills her soul… what is it again? What was missing?

And then it hit her. Music! _That's _what she was craving.

Vess temporarily halted what she was doing and went over to where the record player was situated, and picked up the only album she had, which was placed by the record player exactly where she usually places it.

The only reason she even had this record player was because Breach had not wanted it, for it was too old and outdated and for whatever reason Breach had lost interest in it. Vess guessed because it was because it wasn't 'shiny' enough or something. Breach had discarded it in a heap of machinery, and Vess was able to fix it up and call it her own (after, of course, she knew Breach didn't want it). Luckily the vinyl record wasn't damaged when this happened- she wouldn't know how to fix something like that, at least not _yet_ anyway...Vess could learn. She smirked wondering what the look on Breach's face would be if she did... Vess hoped that it would look stupid...

She carefully placed the record onto the record player, found the right groove with the needle, and pressed play. The disk started spinning slowly at first, then she heard the crackling of the speaker, and then her favorite song ever finally crackled to life.

It was a garage electric punk-rock song with a cool voiced female lead singer who has places to go. Vess didn't know what any of that meant but it said that on the back of the cover so it must mean something good. Vess didn't know much about music, this is the only album she had ever heard ever (if Breach hadn't discarded the record player and vinyl she wouldn't have any music in her life at all) - but she knew that music had good sounds, and that was good enough for her. The group that did the songs or the 'band' was called _the Oh Yeahs _and the song that was playing (which was her favorite out of the album, _hot machine_) was called _Atlases._

Vess listened as the song came on slowly, like the calm before the storm, one instrument was playing, and then two, as the song progressed…

And then the singer came on with almost a burst of other instruments that sounded together beautifully. Vess didn't know how to explain it but the singer's voice was calm and cool, yet punkish at the same time, - like she had nowhere to be, and this was the only thing she was born to do- yet she was without a care in the world. Vess absolutely loved it. She knew every lyric of every song on this album by heart- and she knew this song the most, as if it were a best friend.

Vess taped her foot to the beat and nodded her head a little as she went back to her work. She couldn't help herself as she slightly moved to the beat and hummed some of the lyrics of the song as it moved to her favorite part.

_'…I may not be a cool kid,_

_And I know I may not be,_

_Someone like you, or him or her or them, _

_No, I'm not a cool kid,_

_But hey, hey, girl_

_But hey, hey boy_

_How 'bout we just don't care?_

_How 'bout we just see, How 'bout we just see,_

_What it's like to be someone like me?_

_Hey girl!_

_Hey boy,_

_I just don't care, I just don't care,_

_Oh, oh, no, oh, oh, no,_

_I Just don't give a filthy little anything 'bout this, _

_Oh no, no, oh, no, no…'_

Vess let her movements match the rhythm as if the song was her heartbeat, she didn't know what the lyrics exactly meant by 'cool kids' because she didn't understand why the temperature of someone would seem relevant. But it sounded good when she heard it and that was enough said for her.

Her foot was still tapping as she got out her wrench to tighten one of the loose bolt cables that connected to one of the secondary energy rods. Vess swayed a little to the music and got to work.

A few more moments later of blissful music and hard work she heard footsteps approaching, and she recognized who it belonged to.

Her family must've been back from a mission, she had distinguished each of The Pack's footsteps a long time ago, and can name each one with who they belonged to, were they were walking, and even if they were nervous or not. When you're stuck in one place for long periods of time with no one to talk to you learn how to do useless things like that so you don't go crazy with boredom or loneliness.

She had also taught herself walk backwards as fast as going frontwards, how to run and walk without making the faintest of noises in her echo-y home, she's learned to write with the her other hand, she's trained herself to hold her breath for long periods of time (her record stands at eleven minutes), and how to walk around with her eyes closed using a technique she's seen bat's do- only using her sound and vibration senses. She knew all of this was childish but she was still proud that she knew how to do these things even if it didn't have the slightest of uses to her.

Vess went over to the record player and turned it off- the song was almost over anyway. Then she turned to where she her caretaker would come in and stood up straight. She only had a few minutes to wait before her father entered the room.

"Hello dad," she said when he appeared, "Did you run into any problems on your mission?" She then asked politely.

Van Kleiss didn't answer at first; he seemed distracted by something, his brow furrowed in thought in a way that was very similar to hers when Vess was in thought. For a moment his eyes shown something Vess had never seen before in him- worry. Though she could have easily been mistaken- Van Kleiss was _never_ worried and _always_ knew what to do. He looked up almost as if he was just realizing she was there, and the look quickly dissolved into his usual commanding one, the look Vess was so used to.

"That is none of your concern," he said off-offhandedly as well as a bit venomously. "You shouldn't _ever_ question me,"

"Oh! I-I'm sorry I didn't mean to…"

He said slowly but strongly, as if to carefully brand the words into her head "_Remember_ what I do to people who _question_."

This was his usual way of speaking; with just the right amount of venom to make people not want to… _question_. But this time his tone felt a little more poisonous than usual, it had a little more warning that said; _I will act without hesitation_.

Vess nodded quietly, and let her gaze travel to the floor. She felt afraid. Van Kleiss was more on edge than usual. She should have known this as soon as he entered the room, she should've sensed it- Vess mentally kicked herself; she shouldn't have spoken without being spoken to…why was she always forgetting this? She now felt like she was standing in the room with a coiled snake ready to strike, ready to bring punishment.

Vess kept her head aimed to the floor _stupid, stupid, stupid. _She thought to herself. _Why do I always have to be so stupid? _A few heart-hammering moments of silence slugged by.

But her caretaker seemed to be too preoccupied with other matters to think of his witless daughter. "Vannese," she heard her father say, "Listen, I need you to do something for me…"

Vess looked up, surprised her dad didn't lash out any more at her. She hastily nodded her head but then composed herself, "Yes?" she asked hesitantly, not wanting to do anything more to upset him.

He hesitated for a moment, as if telling her would mean opening the gate to all heck- but then seemed to resolve himself on something. This moment of hesitation was fleeting, but Vess saw it- though she knew not to comment on it. "I need you… to go to bed early tonight. Training starts tomorrow."

Silence swallowed the space they were in, but Vess's mind filled with sparks and noise that was deafening, all trying to figure out what her father had just said.

She was caught off guard. She had been expecting him to give her a simple engineering assignment. He said the word 'training' and 'tomorrow' but he might as well been speaking another language- he had already taught all about machines, quantum mechanics, bio engineering; more than most college professors and esteemed scientist will ever know. So what did he mean by training? What else is there more to learn? Then a thought struck her; maybe she hadn't been doing first-rate on her assignments lately. Maybe she was getting stupid and forgetting things and being imperfect, and her caretaker must think she needs more schooling.

"Have I been inadequate on my assignments lately? I-if the molecular nanite transducer I modified wasn't up to standards I understand if more fine-tuning on the subject is in order-"

"It's not that, the transducer works fine and all your latest assignments do as well,"

Vess tried not to show her surprise- that was the closest thing to a complement in… a while. She also breathed a sigh of relief- her knowledge on her field was still doing well.

Her father continued, "The training I'm going to give you is going to be… different. It's not your brain that I am concerned with, my dear."

Her eagerly curious mind became confused, and it immediately started asking questions to fill the void of confusedness. Most of which she managed to choke out even though there were so many questions that caught up in her throat because she didn't know what to say or what to ask first.

"Wait…what? What kind of training then? What do you mean? Am… am I in trouble?" she blurted out.

"No." Van Kleiss said passively, but then grew serious and said things slowly to her "Tomorrow I'm going to train you on how to defend and attack. You are going to learn how to fight."

Vess was alarmed by this statement; in fact, she had never felt more alarmed than right now. The last word he said felt like a splash of cold water.

"Fight?!" She blurted again. She didn't understand. He must be meaning something else from what she had heard… but Vess could tell he was dead serious on what he said. She took a deep breath, and asked more questions- which hopefully will be followed with clearer answers, "Why? What is going to happen? What do mean?"

"It means that you need to start learning how to defend yourself- you're going to need it for the coming time."

She felt even more anxious- if that was even possible at this point. She knew she was going to have to ask more to understand more of the situation. Van Kleiss was always vague and concealing, making sure he said enough but not too much enough. Vess also knew that he used fear as his tool to keep order- but she didn't think he was doing this to manipulate her like he usually does.

"Why?" she was afraid to ask this next question- though the possible answer is what scared her the most. "Why do I need to know how to defend myself… _what is going to happen?"_

_"You'll learn more about that later._In the meantime, you must prepare yourself."

"For what?!" She burst out; though all Van Kleiss had to do was raise his hand to quickly silence her.

"Your fifteen, I am your father- which means you listen to me. No more questioning from you, just do as I say and you might not get permanently damaged." he said dangerously.

Vess only nodded quietly.

"Now, unless you want to be half unconscious tomorrow I suggest you should turn in for tonight. I will make no exceptions for you."

She didn't need to be asked twice. Vess was off to bed.

**That's it for now! hope you liked it. Next chapter in the works, submit comments on anything you want to see happen or any constructive criticism. This is my first fan-fic on here so any help is welcomed.**


	2. Hoping in the Dark

**Authors note: Hey again! Here comes chapter two, in all its mightiness. This was more of a transitioning chapter, (even so, I think it actually had a little more insight into Vess, even if it might be a little short) and a pinky swear more action in the next chapter!**

**Here it is, hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything, Generator Rex belongs to the creators/Cartoon Network.**

**—V—**

Chapter two

Vess stared up at the sloped tunnel ceiling, looking to the world like she was trying to burn a hole through it. Her thoughts were like a bee hive, a continuous buzz that rattled her mind. It was hard to go to sleep with thoughts swarming around her head like that, no matter how hard she tried to get some shut-eye her buzzing mind just wouldn't let her. The next day loomed over her ominously, the not-knowing-of-what-to-come casting a shadow on her feelings.

Vess is somewhat a sane girl, she knows this, but the questions that were bombarding her in her head were enough to drive her absolutely insane with sleep deprivation and headaches to boot.

Insanity, though, is something that wouldn't be totally unexpected of her (which is something she also dreadfully knows) - Vess _never_ _did_ get off easy in childhood standards- living in total seclusion to outside world, living with her manipulative father, living in slight fear of said father, living with Breach (enough said on _that_), living with her metal arm-gauntlet that kind of makes one side of her unbalanced… (On a brighter note she learned how to deal with the gauntlet thing a long time ago)

But if there one thing that's for-sure, she did turn out pretty good given the standards. But that doesn't stop a little insanity from creeping in. The truth is, and she learned this a long time ago, she has to let a little of mad into her mind- sacrificing a small piece of it, so that she doesn't fully plunge in to complete insanity.

Her crazy comes in the form of the bombardment of thoughts, or more specifically, questions. She's always trying to out- smart situations, trying to think of a better outcome. Her curious mind, though good for learning, when faced with a question she cannot answer effectively tortures her by wondering, and asking over, and over, and over… and well, she's so tired of it.

This was happening to her now.

_'Father has never felt the need to train me how to fight before, so why now?' _Said her first thought, '_He said I wasn't in trouble, but that could be a lie. Lying is another manipulation tactic he uses right? He could have lied!'_ Said another panicked thought as it buzzed pass, '_why am I going to learn how to defend myself? Are bad people coming? If this is the case, are they going to hurt my family? Are they going to hurt me? But why?' _These thoughts stung like bees that buzzed much like the buzzing in her head- mostly because they were scary, but also because they were possible. People could be coming to hurt her family. This thought terrified her, even though she knew that her family could take care of themselves. '_But why?'_ She asked herself again. '_Why would people be coming to hurt my family?'_ She didn't know the answer to this. She didn't like not knowing the answer to something. She slid deeper under the covers, trying to hide from the world.

Then her thoughts tried to be more hopeful, as if to convince her to not be so glum. '_Maybe he's training me because he thinks I'm old enough, maybe that's the reason- as a rite of passage. Maybe it's because he thinks I can benefit from this… as another form of education? Maybe he just wants to spend time with me?' _Though that thought was very unlikely to be true- it was just wishful thinking she had concocted out of idiotic desperation. He said she needed to prepare for something that's coming. And Vess had a feeling it was something bad. She shifted in her bed, not liking the sickening feeling that crept in her. Her thoughts got afraid again… but she didn't know how to feel about this next one.

_'What if… what if he's going to train me because he's planning on including me on outside missions?'_ This thought didn't sting her like a buzzing bee, it shook her. Not in a bad way, but not in a good way either. It was like having possibility to go to a hostile alien planet- scary… but you can't help to wonder. She was afraid, though, in more ways than one. In fact, she felt a whole slew of emotions- she felt excited, scared anxious, curious, confused, and even more excitement on top of that- she didn't know how to sort through it all, so it just got tangled up in a ball and stuffed inside her head to stew. On one hand, if he was going to take her out on missions, that meant a whole new world to explore-but on the other… a whole new world of problems.

What shined out the most was that if _he_ _did_ include her on missions… did that mean she no longer was the mechanic? Did it mean she was now a lackey that was only there because of her muscle power? Will she no longer have the privilege to toy around with science and machinery? No more tinkering? No more of the life she once knew? This thought scared her like something else. It would be like taking the joy out of life, tearing her away from what she always loved to do. It was her passion; engineering was a part of her like an electric circuit respirator is to a hypo electromagnet engine component. It was all she knew, and she always looked forward to new assignments she could get her hands on. She remembers the first days when she was just starting to learn about mechanics and bio engineering from her father, when she was around five years old. She remembers how much she liked it and how exited she was to learn, and that hasn't changed much. it was all she had ever known. He couldn't take that away from her. _No_, said another buzzing thought, _he wouldn't, would he?_

Vess shifted in her bed again, the thought almost making her physically uncomfortable. Her reason suddenly stepped in. _He quite possibly would, _she thought,_ but that would be wasting my talents- and Van Kleiss has never been known to waste talents, maybe there is going to be a middle ground if he should include me in missions in which I use my brains and my brawn._ It was hope, but even better- it was possible.

Then she snorted- _what brawn could I possibly possess though? _Her thoughts humorously said,_ I'm a puny weakling that is not skilled in physical arts whatsoever. I'm practically a pile of skin and bones with no muscle!_

She smiled and shifted again so she was facing the ceiling once more. Whatever reason Van Kleiss decided to train her in fighting must have been a _good_ _one_ to be wasting his time on her.

Vess suddenly felt a small flame start inside her, despite all the self-doubt. She didn't know where it came from. She didn't feel confident per say, but she felt something else… determined. Her doubts were slowly burned away by this determination, bringing her close to what felt like confidence. She finally started to feel sleep over-take her, and closed her eyes.

_Dad,_ she thought hazily, _if you're doing this for my own good or for yours- bring it on… I can take it._

That last thought was like a light in the middle of the darkness, and that light slowly faded until it was nothing but the plainness of sweet, dreamless, sleep.

—V—

Vess woke up to having a pillow being thrown in her face. Not a very preferable way to wake up. She sat up quickly, startled- effectively knocking off her tool box that lay on her nightstand next to her and spilling most (if not all) the contents. Not a very preferable way to start the day.

"Rise and shine." She heard Biowulf command flatly. "Training starts in five minutes."

She groaned. _This is already not as peachy as I thought it would be, _said a bemoaned thought.

Vess grudgingly got out of bed to face the day that lay ahead of her.

—V—

**Author note: That's it for today- sorry if you thought it was a little slow or too short, unless you thought it was great then you're welcome. Wrote this to transition into the coming training scene(s) - had a lot of fun writing it, I thought I would give Vess a little more character development in this chapter too. Chapter three in the works, any comments or suggestions on what you might you want to see happen is welcomed- also, any suggestions on how you think the writing could be better is also welcomed. I have an open mind and open ears to other people's opinions so speak up if you got something to share. Also if you favorite/follow that would be good too :)! **


	3. First Day of Training

**Disclaimer: I do not own Generator Rex and/or any of its characters.**

-V-

Chapter 3

After Vess had practically fallen over herself trying to get ready for the day in five minutes (which was quite the challenge, by the way), she followed Biowulf to training room. As soon as she entered she felt her drowsy-grumpiness melt away into excitement and anxiousness.

She tried to compose herself, but that was kind of hard when you have a tangled oil-black mess for hair, which she had stuffed into her usual pony tail (she didn't have time to brush it all) and a hug-me-kitten shirt on, (in her defense, she just threw it on without even glancing at it). She wished she had thrown on another shirt, especially on her first day. It's not that she had anything against the shirt (or kittens or- err, hugs), though, it's just that it didn't exactly scream: '_ready for combat training!' _But at least she wasn't showing up in her pajamas like she did in one of those 'showing up for something important in pajamas' dreams- because Vess just knew that was something her idiotic self would do.

On another note, even though she had pretty much failed at making herself presentable she still managed to put on her trusty grey goggles and her faded black trench coat that was kind of tattered at the bottom and had gold-yellow colored lining at the pockets and shoulder straps. One word: priorities. She had accidentally slept in her favorite glove so she hadn't had to worry about that. Bonus points that she managed to get her brown work boots on- well, sort of, she was still pulling one of them on as she walked into the training room in a half walking-half hopping motion. How dignified. Once again, the hug-me-kitten top certainly didn't help.

The training room opened up into large cavern that had plenty of space for learning how to fight and for brushing up on your physical strengths. The Pack only uses this room occasionally. In fact, they haven't used this room in a while, with them being out on more and more missions lately they need no further exercise. The cavern itself was lit by florescent lights that hung high up from the ceiling, which was rusted with age. The lights were actually older than her- Vess's home had been here long before she was born. Vess didn't know the details, but the whole underground tunnel complex and caves used to be some sort of secret government lab. It had been abandoned before The Pack called it home. She wished she knew what kind of stuff people did in here before it was abandoned, and why, but Van Kleiss was very vague about it. It seemed her father was vague on everything these days, especially on stuff like: _why the heck is she learning how to fight even when she's stuck in a secluded underground fortress where no one can reach her or trace her nanites?_ The answer to that question eludes her at the moment.

"How nice of you to join us," her father said with an air of authority when she entered the room. "I hope you've had a good rest, because today is going to be a considerably demanding one."

Vess nodded and stood up straight, not wanting to seem as ill-prepared as she felt.

He paused and eyed her for a second before saying, "That shirt is very… intimidating,"

Vess deflated from her standing-up-straight posture like a balloon. She felt like anything that made her look 'more prepared' at this point was a lie, anyway.

Van Kleiss didn't seem to notice her change in manner, and got right down to business. "Now, I want you to show me your best fighting stance."

"Ok…" She said, knowing that she had no real idea how to do that. She tried to position herself like she's seen The Pack do, but she didn't know if she was doing it right…she most likely wasn't. Her stance was probably like: Hey, my big bad gauntlet arm _may look_ scary, BUT I AM A TERRIBLE FIGHTER WHO HAS COME TO SLIGHTLY SCUFF YOU! FEEL MY WEAK POWER! YOU SHALL PITY ME!

By the way her father was looking at her this was probably the case. He shook his head to himself, "Your footing is off, so your balance could be easily compromised," He then reached out and gave a small shove to her chest, and true to what he said she easily fell over.

"Ow," she said surprised, and then sat up to rub her head.

"Now do it again, but like this," He showed her the proper way to do it, "And do not make fists like that; unless of course you want to break your thumbs. When you make a fist make sure your thumbs are on the outside."

Vess got up quickly to follow his instructions and copied what he was doing. She braced herself this time though, just in case her father decided to push her again. She aimed to copy how he stood, and took his advice on the fists-thing- she of course did _not _want to break her thumbs.

Van Kleiss still looked dissatisfied with her fighting stance. He nudged her foot slightly so she had a wider stance, and moved her arm more upward so it was better protecting her face. "You need to keep your feet a little farther apart so all of your weight isn't concentrated in one place, when your weight is more spread out it makes it harder to imbalance you. But not too far apart, that'll make you more vulnerable to attack because then it'll be harder to coordinate your feet to move quickly. And keep your hands up to protect yourself, especially the face and head because that is generally where your opponent will try to strike you."

She nodded, trying to store everything he said in her memory.

"Now, I want you to block this attack. Biowulf, if you will,"

"Wait _what_-!" Vess said, not getting what her father meant, but she was suddenly interrupted by Biowulf lashing out at her with his razor-sharp claws. She managed to dodge it just in time by jumping to the floor out of the way, even so she felt him slightly nick her face on the nose.

"I said _block_, not _dodge."_ Her father said irritably, pinching his nose. "Honestly, how do you expect to learn how to fight if you can't block a simple attack?"

"But-" she sputtered, stunned by the sudden hit.

"No excuses. In the real world your opponent will not go easy on you. Did you honestly think that the person who you're fighting would just _warn _you of a coming attack?" he shook his head, "You need to prepare yourself Vess, for anything at any given moment. An attacker will never make acceptations, no matter _what _age or how skilled you are. This will be your first lesson." He turned to Biowulf. "Again." He stated quite calmly. She barely knew what was happening; this training had taken quite a turn- and not a good one- very quickly. Her face went pale when she registered him say, '_again'_, and she scrambled to her feet and turned to her uncle.

She held her hands up and smiled sheepishly "Hey, whoa- Biowulf, where all friends here right? Right?" she babbled. Biowulf made a move towards her, ignoring what she said- but answering her question all the same. Vess sighed, "Well ok then… AAAAAAAH!" she said as she turned on her heel and ran when Biowulf went into attack mode again, this time not waiting for him to try to strike at her. She was running, screaming, and flailing her arms in the air like she just doesn't care. This, as you could imagine, was a very _dignified_ display. She wasn't looking at her dad but she could practically _sense_ a face palm.

"Put your hands in front of your face, not above your head! Use your nanites- your gauntlet, it can stretch to great lengths and is virtually indestructible, not to mention that your nanites enhance your muscle power and stamina! For goodness sake, stop running and take it like an EVO! " he heard her father call to her.

"AAAAAAAAAAAH!" She replied.

He face-palmed. His daughter couldn't have been doing more terribly in her _sleep_. _This was going to take a while, _he thought.

Vess swerved around a stalagmite and kept high-tailing it around the training room, not wanting to take her chances with her uncle, Biowulf. She dodged a claw that came way to close to her and sped up to a panicking-for-my-life speed.

"Vess! Try to use your powers, _this instant_!" Van Kleiss ordered.

"I've never used my powers before- what if I don't even have any?!" she yelled while running. "Why didn't you just show me how to use my powers _first_ before you decided to unleash Biowulf?!"

"I believe that you can learn faster on the job… gives you more of an _incentive_ doesn't it?" he said in a way that unnerved her a little. "_Now do it_. Tell me Vannese, which one of us would you more dread to face in a fight; Biowulf or… _me?_"

She nearly tripped and lost her footing when he said that. Face her father, Van Kleiss, in a _fight_? No. Thank. You. Sir. She'd rather face the family member that has claws that can easily rip through flesh than her Tyrannical one that could easily make her wish she was never born.

Vess gulped and faced Biowulf.

Van Kleiss smiled to himself. "That's it. Now concentrate on your arm, will it to do as you say."

Vess nodded, concentrating. _Don't mess up, _she thought to herself. She didn't want to think what would happen if she didn't do this right- she knew Biowulf was coming in quickly... too quickly in her opinion. She squeezed her eyes shut and continued to concentrate on her arm, fear pumping through her like blood- and felt something. It felt like another part of her mind suddenly opened up, she just... she didn't know how to describe it. She felt something in her nanites, something- _powerful_. Her fear subsided when she felt this power, suddenly she felt like she knew what to do- and that she was capable of doing it. She willed it to build up in her arm and…

Her metal arm shot out like a grappling hook, but like a sturdier, dangerous, claw-type version that could punch you in the face very hard- The _fun_ version, in other words. Well… it was the fun version for _her_; anyway, Biowulf's feelings about it may be a little _mixed_ at the moment. Especially as her hand connects with his chest and thrust him backward, pinning him to a wall at the far upper-side of the room, his legs were dangling far from the floor. It happened fast, like a strike from a snake.

Vess's eyes snapped open and she realized what happened. "_Whoa_…" she said, effectively summarizing her feelings.

"It appears you have learned to use one of your powers, Vannese." Van Kleiss said, sounding pleased. "Now all we have to do is work on your other abilities. Plus we _really _need to work on your fighting technique, which at the moment seems to be made up only of running around and screaming like a coward."

She nodded sheepishly. "Yeah..." Then she fully registered what he said, "Wait- I have _other _abilities?!"

-V-

**Authors note: that's it for this chapter, hope you enjoyed it! I'm going to try to update as soon as I can. I also hope I portrayed Van Kleiss well, I watched episodes with him in it before I wrote this to really get his character down. I also want to give a shout out to YellowAngela for the reviews and support- it helped allot. I'll like to thank anyone who's reading this fan fiction for taking the time to do that.**


	4. A Haunting Message

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Generator Rex characters**

Chapter 4

Vannese collapsed on her bed; she was filled to the _brim_ with heavy exhaustion. She didn't think she was ever going to move her tired limbs ever again, let alone tomorrow. Her father, being Van Kleiss, pushed her to the limit on her first day of training. After she had learned to use one of her powers, he had put her through a bunch of different physical exercises trying to see where her limit was- and judging by how sore she's probably going to be in the morning he had most definitely found it. And it wasn't even her regularly scheduled time for bed yet! That was a few hours from now. Yet she was just… so… _tired. _She couldn't help but clock out for the day, even though she just wanted to use this time to get back to her engineering. Why did he have to push her so hard during training? This, she did not know.

Vess groaned, remembering how he had Biowulf nearly slice her to ribbons. If she hadn't learned to use her powers the moment she did… well- it wouldn't have been a very happy _ending_ for her, now would it? Her father didn't even seem a _little_ worried about her when this was happening- It was as if he didn't care. In fact it was as if he was enjoying her plight- or maybe he was just annoyed at her ignorance. Not a very fun thought for her, either way.

She kicked off her worn leather boots and got comfortable, not even bothering to change into pajamas- She refused to get up out of bed to do so- just flat out _refused_. She was too tired to do anything other than lying down and being dead to the world.

_At least I'm not actually dead to the world, _Vess thought. After all, she _had_ come so close to being this way- the non-breathing version that is.

She sighed, feeling uncharacteristically sweaty from the training. Being underground, the air was always cool and could actually be a bit nippy at times, so Vess doesn't normally sweat in her chill environment. Her dad had worked her to the bone today though, and she felt the effects of that. Her trench coat and long sturdy jeans would've been a good thing to wear usually, given that it was good with working on machinery that could cut or scorch your skin- plus it fought of the temperatures of her home, but today it just made her feel clammy. Her hand was starting to feel itchy and hot also from being stuck inside a glove for hours at a time, so she slipped it out and freed it of its cloth-ly bonds. She liked how the cool air felt as it wrapped around her hand. Vess then stripped her coat off for good measure. Now she felt lighter and less clammy, which in turn lightened her mood a little.

Vess slid under her sheets and nuzzled her face into her pillow. After a long day, this was just so _comfy_. It almost made her not worry about tomorrow. _Almost_, being the key word- she couldn't help to worry, no matter if the bed felt comfy to her or not.

She worried if the next day would bring an even tougher training session, one she may not even survive. She worried, and worried, scared that tomorrow she wouldn't be as lucky like she was today. She was scared that tomorrow her dad again will say '_now, I want you to block this attack, so-and-so if you will…' _And then have a family member of hers rip her to sheds. Vess did not want to be ripped to shreds. Being ripped to shreds was not on her to-do list. Did her dad even _care_ that she might get hurt? If he did, he had a very unusual way of showing it.

_No_, said a thought in her head, _he cares…_

She knew _she_ cared about her family, even if they are dangerous to her health. Vannese, even though things can get sketchy at times, has always cared. Even if… even if it's not totally clear sometimes; she knew her family cared too, right?

Vess was uncertain.

Maybe they don't… maybe they don't _care._ This was a much despaired thought that ran through her head, and even though it seemed like something that was final, like a revelation that can't be changed…

Vess was still uncertain.

—V—

Van Kleiss had a grim look on his face, though it was barely noticeable. Years of keeping secrets and telling lies has made his expressions that show weak emotions hidden on impulse. He was… _annoyed_- but that was just a surface emotion. On the inside it was a churning battle field. He knew how to deal with this kind of internal conflict, since he's dealt with it so many times before during his vast and unusual lifetime. He knew that emotions meant nothing to the situation at hand so they soon became irrelevant- it didn't stop them from seeping in like a leak in a boat, no matter how irrelevant they may have seemed to him.

He didn't even fully admit he had this emotion inside him, but he felt it though. He was worried, a feeling that could plague an entire country without being physically contagious.

He had his reasons for being worried. Van Kleiss was not the type of guy who gets worried about small things- if something raises his concern; it has to be something worth his time. Oh, and the matter in which concerned him was something that grew more distressing by the passing minute- in other words it _was_ worth his time to worry, because he needed a plan more suitable than originally thought of.

And quick.

Van Kleiss tried not to look annoyed as a thought crossed his ever-worried mind. Can't his daughter learn how to fight, or try out a simple power, without making a complete fool out of herself? The events of training her flashed through his mind, and he pinched the bridge of his nose; feeling a migraine coming on. Yes, maybe he would've _tolerated_ her dodging Biowulf's attacks- and maybe even her taking a few paces backward-but she had flat out turned and _fled. _If that hadn't been enough already, she had been screaming like a coward with her arms strewn about in air, scrambling

around the cavern like a roach in the spotlight. Putting it simply- and rather sugarcoated, she did not do well under pressure. He _did not_ find this very pleasing to him.

Sure, Vess was a fast learner; he knew this- many years of teaching about her complex machinery and sciences has shown him that. Her mere desire to learn alone could have made her a college level genius. She had learned to use one of her powers very quickly, and in time will probably learn to master it- as well as the others. But that's just the problem; he didn't think they had that kind of time. Time before she is _really_ going to need those fighting skills.

Because what was coming, he knew, wasn't exactly going to let her off easy... or him, as a matter of fact.

As much as he tried to oppress it, he couldn't help but flash back on what started this entire mess- he didn't like to dwell on memories, but sometimes past events can pop up like unwanted weeds.

A flashback to earlier events came to him without warning, giving him no time to contemplate its necessity.

—V—

The Pack moved quickly through the dense bodies of trees that made up the jungle, the only noise to be heard was a whisper aside from the hum of wildlife around them. Breach had to open a portal a small way from the break-in site, just in case something like that would be caught on camera- he'd take care of the camera problem in a minute or two, once his electronic de-mobilizer kicked gear. They had to keep an even lower profile after all the EVOs were cured, any strange activity can arouse suspicion from the unwanted- and Van Kleiss's plans were hinged on the element of surprise. No one could know about them until they were too late to stop- that was imperative.

This mission was actually an investigation of a particular variety- a gathering of information. Which meant it was a dangerous one, when it came to what Van Kleiss was researching. Not surprising, when anything that involved him was dangerous.

They were on a remote island off the coast of Indonesia, were an abandoned Nanite research facility was currently situated- which made a lot of noise for something that was 'abandoned'.

He stopped briefly to check his nanite transmitter. It had a soft light that flashed every few seconds, getting faster the closer they got to the site. It was detecting absurd amounts of nanite impulses that were off the charts-even if the all the EVOs weren't cured that would be unusual. Van Kleiss of course had to inquire over this personally. His calculative eyes skimmed the readings on the transmitter.

He's only seen these kinds of readings one other time...

The lines on his forehead creased ever so slightly in thought, but quickly diminished. No time for memories. The clock was ticking.

He had set out another decoy signal that trumps the one that was coming from the site, effectively keeping Providence off his radar for the time being. He didn't want them coming to investigate the nanite impulses- and he especially didn't wish to run into them, this mission was a too-delicate situation. The decoy signal only works for three hours, for security and on necessity- any longer and people may receive too much on the _decoy_ part.

He motioned for Biowulf to scout ahead, the area were the nanite signals were coming from was almost in sight. Security was already dealt with on the electronic side- he sent out a virus, an electronic probe per say, which disabled any cameras, security systems, or any other device that could cause trouble for the Pack on the island. It was an advanced piece of work, it honed in on any electronics that was recording time frames, sending information via commercial satellite or anywhere he did not manually authorize. That should be working now. Now all they had to deal with was the breathing security-his associate would take care of that momentarily…

Shouts rang out, struggling, and gunfire coming from the guards started-as if on cue. Some of the wildlife were startled and moved quickly away from signs of danger.

The sounds of conflict were quickly ceased a few moments later- almost as fast as it started. Biowulf of course had made short work of the security guards.

Biowulf reappeared and nodded. The dangerous group moved in. The nanite energy readings were coming from that building- time to find out why.

The nanite research facility in question was a multi-leveled structure that had a looming presence over the jungle, made of concrete that had cracks in the corners and lichen climbing up the walls. The concrete was white, though years sitting in the harsh jungle had aged the color. Hidden beneath the ground of the building were additional floors that made up most of the research facility's complex.

He knew this because he had… _borrowed_ the blueprints to the building beforehand.

They passed the unconscious security guards that were littered about in front of the building and made it inside.

The interior of the building, or at least the entrance floor, was that of a ghost town. Empty, abandoned- things had the air of being uncared for a long time, some surfaces coated with dust, skeletons of what used to be lab equipment. It was all grayish white and the smell of old disinfectant stung the senses.

Strange. Whoever had set the guards outside was good at making things seem like they're not- but why go through all this trouble of putting out guards and yet still making things seem untouched?

Whoever it is, it's someone who isn't planning on staying around long, someone who wants to do whatever they're doing here and not leave a trace when they leave… someone who has something to hide.

Someone who thinks similar to Van Kleiss. _Similar-_ though not the same. It was different, yet the method was familiar. He had spent years, and he has lived were the past was present, in days were strategy was something recently coming to light. He has known many strategies of manipulation, of plans of conquer, of revenge, he's seen it- and he's done it. So he knew what he was talking about when something felt familiar, when something felt carefully planned.

And yet… he or she left a flaw- and one he easily corrected by sending out a decoy signal-like leaving a breadcrumb, of sorts- a breadcrumb leading to a trap. It seems that whoever was behind the nanite readings as well as the guards were expecting him.

Well, here he is- and a simple trap isn't going to make him run.

Van Kleiss checked the nanite transmitter again, they were close, but the readings were coming from the underground floors. He nodded to the others, and they moved out.

The entire building was checked just in case any guards weren't taken down or security systems were left online. The upper floors were held no real significance, and more or less was the same thing every time- a ghost of what used to be a lab, sometimes mold clinging to the ceiling, a few lounge rooms were found with furniture tearing at the seams, but nothing that screamed nanite radiation, security, or any signs of more guards.

Something about how half-hazard security was, put him on edge, though it was obvious that most of the security was done through technology other than a force of grunts, offline cameras and sensors were everywhere, as well as a few motion operated guns that hang from the ceiling- all not working because of his probe. Lack of any guards in the building was uncommon, though- almost eerie. Maybe someone was afraid that even the guards would poke around- or maybe they knew not to bother with it. In any case, it began to smell more and more like a trap.

Scouting over the building was easy, it took only a few minutes for Breach to scope it out, and it became apparent that the only thing on the above ground levels was dust, un-working security equipment, and rotting floorboards.

Now onto the underground levels.

He knew from going over the blueprints of the building that the entrance to the secret floors was a flight of stairs hidden behind a set of lockers in the basement level of the building on the west side. Simple to get to if you have Breach around.

Biowulf soon ripped through the metal lockers, and the gaping hole revealed the hidden passage of stairs. The stairs dipped into inky blackness, going darker and darker until the rest of the stairs were not in view. The smallest shift in air was met at the entrance of the stairway giving a sense of vastness. With no were but down, they went in.

Skalamander's crystal arm glowed in the darkness, (a recently discovered power of his) its emerald light illuminating the way. The walls were close on either side, the grey metal seemingly green in the light's shade. The air was thin as they went down, something they were used to. At the bottom of the stairs was a door with a keypad next to it. Once again Biowulf ripped through the metal boundary with ease, no mind to the keypad.

The next setting they were in was the complete opposite of the one upstairs, confirming his suspicions. No one was around, at least at the moment, but it was clear that there had been recent activity. Lab equipment was left on tables, not a speck of dust to be found- some showing signs of use within a twenty four hour period. The light was on, something that doesn't just happen in an abandoned place.

Van Kleiss was alert as ever. People don't just _leave_ the light on.

A noise had gone off in the lab, the sound of movement- of a machine starting up. The Pack got into defense positions just in time for robots to start firing at them.

Skalamander had immediately put a crystal barricade between them and the machine attackers, and then returned fire with crystal shards being shot out. Biowulf had gone on the offensive side, jumping to the side and then lunging at the robots, claws tearing through metal, while Breach opened up portals which engulfed a hand full of them. Van Kleiss also went into combat mode, swinging his EVO arm towards a group of robots while it was elongated, and smacking them into a wall. Next when his arm had returned, he then turned and shot needles from the tips of his fingers, which exploded on impact. Finally he had punctured one of them with his gauntlet, sending bolts of electricity into it and effectively dispatching it. The last one was quickly taken out. Heaps of smoking metal now littered the area.

Robots were always easy.

Van Kleiss took a glance at his nanite transmitter, which informed him that they were close to where the nanite readings came from. He didn't fully need the transmitter now, though- he had a slight unsettling feeling that they were close, this sort of _off_ sensation in his nanites. A feeling he has felt before.

They moved out, there was a door which led them into a lab, one with machines that seemed to be in the works, bottles on tables filled with chemicals, and various other equipment. The room was darkly colored with grey and black, and lit by florescent lights that hung from the ceiling.

"EVO scum…" said a familiar voice filled with malice- but not one he was quite expecting.

"Hunter Cain," Van Kleiss said in his usual, unfazed voice, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

The burly, ammo-dressed man stood from a high sky-walk that hung from the ceiling, a large gun in his meaty hands pointed at The Pack.

Van Kleiss raised a black eyebrow as his team got into defense positions again, his expression hinting amusement. Hunter Cain was not someone he was particularly afraid of.

"My employer has sent me here to…greet you."

"Ah," Van Kleiss said, "and a good hello to you too." He gave the slightest glance at Breach, who then got ready to send the futile hunter away into the next dimension. "If I may ask," He continued coolly, "Who is this employer that wants us eliminated? I have a fairly long list of enemies, so you're going to help me out on this one. It would help allot to know the person whom knows I'm still alive."

Hunter Cain snickered "I wasn't sent here to eliminate you, filthy EVO - not yet, anyway…"

Van Kleiss smirked "Oh?"

"What I have for you is a message."

This at least caught his attention. "What kind of message?" he asked cautiously.

It was Hunter Cain's turn to smirk now. He got out a strange looking device, like a cross between a remote and a grenade, and as soon as it appeared Van Kleiss's nanite transmitter went crazy. Overall, not a good sign to be found.

Skalamander threw a handful of crystal shards at Hunter Cain, whom was quick for such a burly stature and dodged it. Before anyone could react he turned on the device, which made a sinister humming sound and a big flash of blue light radiated from it.

A sharp pain suddenly exploded Van Kleiss's brain. He clenched his teeth, pressing his hands to his head and yelling in pain. Black spots invaded his vision, he couldn't see the Pack but he had a feeling they were going through something similar. He felt his knees fall to the ground.

"So," he heard Hunter Cain say close to his face, "Here's the message: we know what you stole, all those years ago... And sooner or later, we're going to take it back."

Through the pain, Van Kleiss still found a way to somehow _glare_ at his enemy with his calculative crimson-red eyes. His jaw clenched with now with more lust for blood instead from the pain.

Hunter Cain then backed away from the suffering group, cackling, "Compliments from my employer," he said with amusement dripping from his voice.

Then he was gone. Van Kleiss didn't see how though, his vision was not clear and his head was facing the floor.

Just as sudden as the pain had started, it had ceased. Van Kleiss looked up and realized Hunter Cain had disappeared, along with the strange device. The only exit to the lab was behind The Pack. Hunter Cain had gone in the opposite direction, and… stopped?

He looked at Breach, who was just getting out of the pain stupor as well. Breach looked at him and shrugged; she hadn't made Hunter Cain disappear.

Van Kleiss blinked- the only thing that hinted his confusion.

Soon they were all back on their feet, and the room was quickly surveyed again: no Hunter Cain, no device. It was if he vanished into thin air.

The building was quickly scouted again with Breach's portals- same conclusion, one missing enemy and his weapon.

Van Kleiss felt something at the back of his head, a cold, dark feeling- it hinted the coming of danger, of unknown things to come.

_If Breach hadn't sent Hunter Cain away-then what did?_ He thought silently. He didn't know the answer. He didn't like not knowing the answer to something.

He then remembered hunter Cain's message. _We know what you stole, all those years ago…and sooner or later, we're going to take it back._

Van Kleiss frowned grimly.

—V—

After that, of course, they went back to base; the story is history from there. Vannese was waiting for him, as always. She had asked him how the mission went. Van Kleiss had scared that curiosity out of her; those questions would lead to even more questions, and the answers needed to be kept hidden- _answers_ could sometimes be the most destructive part about secrets, and this time it was the case for her.

He had decided that he needed to start training her in combat- Hunter Cain's message was a wake up call, and it meant someone might be watching them, it meant someone might know where they are, and Vannese needed to be prepared for the coming attack.

But now, as he remembers the disastrous training from today, he may not think she has time to ever be ready. Van Kleiss scowled, and shook his head. _Unacceptable_, he will not have this kind of weakness.

He stopped briefly outside Vannese's door. He opened it just a crack- he saw that she was still there, and already fast asleep, probably whipped out from training. Her chest steadily rose and fell rhythmically; her face was serene with sleep. The exhausted girl hadn't even changed into her pajamas.

He needed her to know how to defend herself, but what if he was already too late on the subject?

Van Kleiss shook his head, _I must not think like this- it's unproductive. _He hesitantly moved along.

He probably needed to get some rest too, but he couldn't quite set his mind to it. He had researched tirelessly on the kind of technology that Hunter Cain had in his possession that had debilitated the Pack in such a way, as well as his miraculous disappearance, but he kept coming up short of anything. He needed answers now, though. The only thing he had new information on was that the nanite energy readings that were coming from the abandoned research facility were gone too, without so much as a trace. He didn't know exactly what to think. So many questions, not enough answers.

_Who had hired Hunter Cain? _He wondered for the millionth time. He sighed, whoever it was had access to complicated technology, things a hard-head like Hunter Cain couldn't obtain on his own.

And whoever it was, they knew valuable secrets about Van Kleiss that could end him.

He didn't like the gut feeling that he had- but one thing felt clear, he has probably met this employer before. And by the looks of it, they were as thirsty for power as he was.

Hunter Cain's message haunted him once again. _We know what you stole, all those years ago…_ _and_ _sooner_ _or_ _later we're going to get it back._

He felt anger bubble up inside him. _No you will not, _he thought silently, _she's mine._

—V—

**Author's note: Hi! I know, I haven't updated in forever so I'm really, really, sorry but it's been getting hard since school started, and I had a bit of writers block for a while. Don't worry though! I'm back and I promise another chapter soon, hopefully sooner than the time this chapter was made. Hoped you liked this one by the way! Please comment or PM me on anything you have questions about or if you have any suggestions on what might you want to see in the next chapter! Any constructive criticism is welcomed! :-) Until next time!**


	5. Training with a tune

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Generator Rex characters.**

Chapter 5

Vannese woke up sore. Plus it was really early. Not a perfect combo for a good, refreshing morning. She groaned at her aching limbs, which were hard to move. _Kill me now,_ she thought grumpily, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

She rolled out of bed and stumbled around to get ready for the day. First she hobbled into the bathroom for a shower, which was nice and warm; this in turn lightened her mood a bit. After she got dressed in clothes thankfully without kittens on it (Vannese liked kittens, she just wanted to look tough today), she then brushed some of the tangles out of her matted hair and stuffed it into her usual ponytail. After she finally brushed her teeth, she felt ready to tackle the day.

Vannese stared into the mirror, thinking '_you can do this' _thoughts. Her reflection stared back at her, with her crimson-red eyes that looked so much like her father's. She looked so much like him, always has; her jawline and cheekbones were defined like his (though hers was a touch softer), she had his pale skin, his jet- black hair, his nose, her hair had two white streaks going through it in her dark bangs, also like him. Plus his golden-arm gauntlet and neck collar thingy. She looked like a smaller, female version of him.

Time to show the world she can fight like him too. Sure, she still was afraid of training- but she at least knew what to expect this time. She figured nerves would make it worse anyway.

And besides, it was a new day, with renewed hope. It can't be worse than it was yesterday right? She was _fairly_ sure it couldn't- like sixty percent sure. Sixty percent wasn't that bad.

Vess then moved to her room and got her black glove and grey goggles from her nightstand, and swiftly put them on. She topped it off with her faded black coat with yellow-colored lining, and her brown work boots.

Now she's golden armed and ready.

Vannese made her way out of her room and started her trip to the training room. Biowulf was waiting for her halfway there.

"You're up early," he observed. "I was about to come get you for training,"

Vess smiled proudly and stood up straight. _Yes I am up early, _she thought.

She followed Biowulf into the training room, with a hopeful heart set on acing the day, or at least faring better than she did the day before.

She considered yesterday…'something to work on'- In other words, a day she did not want to make her highest point.

She noticed something when she entered the training room.

"Where's my dad?" she asked.

Biowulf was unmoved by the question. "Van Kleiss is in his study researching. He will be with us when he comes; in the meantime I lead the training." He said flatly.

"Oh," Vess said sheepishly. She wondered what it would be like to train without her dad around… if she would guess, probably less dangerous.

Or maybe more dangerous… she was just going to have to find out.

"Take you're defense position."

She nodded and put her fists up; positioning herself like her dad had instructed her the day before. She remembered to keep her thumbs on the outside, and quickly made that change. Biowulf nudged her foot a little so she had a wider stance, like her dad did yesterday with her- she was going to have to work on that. Once she had gotten situated in a super-fierce fighting stance did the training begin.

"Now strike me," he said.

She blinked. "What?"

"Give me your best shot without having to use your abilities. Let's test your strength."

"You want me to hit you?"

"Yes."

"Oh…ok." She said, and then hesitated. "Are you sure?" What she wanted to say was; _are you going to hit me back?_

"I'm sure."

"Really, really sure?"

"_Yes_." He said, annoyance trickling into his ruff voice.

"Really, Really, really-"

"Do it _now_." He snapped.

"Ok…" She drew her non-EVO arm back like she was cocking a gun, and then let him have it with a sickening blow…

That hurt her hand like crazy and barely damaged uncle Biowulf at all. To her credit though, he staggered back an inch.

Exactly _one inch._

Victory!

"Ow," she said, "Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-_ow_!" she held her hand and danced around like she was doing an Irish jig.

"That was pathetic," Uncle Biowulf said.

"It was my first try!" Vannese retorted. _Plus, you have thick blue armor coating you- _she didn't say it though.

"Still. You're nanites should've enhanced you're stamina a little more than _that."_

"Maybe they're still just waking up…" she said, still shaking the blow from her hand. "It usually takes me a while to wake up, so why not my nanites?" she tried to make a dull point out of that. Who's to say her nanites aren't sleepy anyway?

"Excuses." He said flatly. "Do it again, and this time try not to curve you're wrists."

"Ok," she sighed, her hand still throbbing a little. Then she shifted from foot to foot, and put her hands up again. "Get ready to experience my golden power,"

"What?"

"It's just a catch phrase I've been working on…"

If Biowulf could scowl, he was doing it now. "…Hit, now."

She gave a lighthearted smile that hinted a small apology and nodded. Taking a deep breath of thin air she drew her arm back as she did last time, keeping her wrists aligned with her core, and detonated a hard thrust.

Biowulf staggered back _one whole_ step.

Victory for real this time!

She then flinched just a little at the pain in her hand- it hurt, but not as much. Heat still throbbed through it from the hit. She was glad she had her glove on to help absorb a little of the impact.

Biowulf's expression was unchanged- though when you're a wolf-robot EVO you'd probably have limited expressions. "That was…good. Not pathetic." He said.

Vannese beamed.

Her dad walked in from the other side of the room, looking distracted by something. He ran his fingers through his hair, hinting stress. Judging by the bags under his eyes he hadn't slept either. Vess remembered something Biowulf said about him "researching" something… if she knew her dad, he was probably up all night doing whatever kind of researching that he does.

"Dad!" she called waving her hand and smiling, "I hit Biowulf and it had only mildly hurt me!"

Van Kleiss just razed one of his dark eyebrows at her.

—V—

Vannese was now once again in a defense position; standing a few feet from her was uncle Biowulf whom looked ready to take something apart. Not a good sign when he's your sparring partner. Vess tried to keep her hands from shaking…and to keep last night's dinner from making reappearance. Her stomach felt like it was doing back flips.

_Don't be afraid, _she thought to herself, _he's a family member of yours; he wouldn't kill you or horribly dismember you…right? No, he wouldn't. The chances are slim anyway. Dad wouldn't let him kill or horribly disfigure you. You have a good non-kill relationship with your family. And Biowulf would never disfigure you. _Vannese thought about it,_ Maybe he would just a little…_ she frowned.

Vess was not helping herself by thinking these thoughts. In fact the more she thought about it the more she felt like she was about to hyperventilate.

_Just don't think about it, _she decided, _just don't think about how much this is going to hurt… just don't think at all… you're not going to be ripped to shreds… don't think about it…you'll be fine… this is a simple training exercise were people have very sharp claws that could rip you to shreds…_

Ugh, she felt like she needed to face-palm herself.

Her fists tightened. She was being foolish; she shall not let her family see her that way._ No matter what, I'm not going to run again. _She promised herself.

Van Kleiss stood watching them both with his calculative eyes, and then gave the slightest nod to Biowulf.

Then did the training match begin.

Biowulf swung at her, to which she squeaked and ducked it just as fast. She back tracked quickly to give herself some space, and focused on her EVO arm- willing it to shoot out like it did the last time, but when Biowulf came at her again it broke her concentration. Vess had to bank a hard left to the ground, and quickly rolled out of the way just in time for him not to bring his claw down on her. Her heart was going a hundred miles an hour and adrenalin muddled her brain.

_Fight back, _she inwardly managed to scream at herself, _or_ _do you want your dad to see yourself as a failure yet again?_

Biowulf pushed her backward when she was busy telling herself to fight back. She rolled to a stop and got up, and ducked out of the way of another claw. He had managed to rip a claw mark into her shirt, just barley grazing her skin. Way too much of a close call. She knew it was just her imagination but Biowulf just kind of seemed to back off a bit after that.

She couldn't tell because he was still coming after her.

Vess side jumped as he strike at her again, but then he turned around and kicked her in the gut sending her backward and knocking the wind out of her. She got up one hand holding her torso, and got into another defense position. He swiftly came at her again.

When he lashed out with his claw Vannese ducked low and managed to get a hit him with her non-EVO arm…and it hurt like crazy. She had forgotten the advice Biowulf had given her on punching for one millisecond and Vess found herself paying for it with a burning hand. She cringed at the pain.

She backed up holding her throbbing hand, and willed the other one to use her powers. The power increased and… her EVO arm finally shot out and lunged at Biowulf…

He however, was not going to be surprised like the last time and side-stepped out of the way, dodging it with amazing ease. Her EVO arm came back to her, no victory in its grasp.

_Well, at least I fought back, _she thought.

He suddenly ran at her and pushed her again, and she rolled backwards. When she got up they were a few feet apart and they both started to circle each other.

_This is no use;_ she thought miserably, _I don't have enough physical training to do this…_

Then an idea came to her, it was so crazy she wondered if it belonged to her. The chances of it working were the chances of Van Kleiss having a tea party with her wearing pink nail polish…sorry for the image.

And she was crazy enough to go through with the idea. She wasn't that much trained physically, but mentally she ruled… albeit with a bit insanity.

"Hey Biowulf," she said not believing she was doing this, and smirked.

Biowulf looked surprised at this if he could look such a way.

"Do you want to hear my favorite song?" She almost playfully had spoken.

Even Van Kleiss raised an eyebrow at this.

She started humming her favorite tune…and then, if it was crazy enough, she started _singing_.

_"…I may not be a cool kid," _she sung the first part of the song she knew so well, swaying her hips a little at it like the music was actually on.

_"And I know I may not be,_

_Someone like you, or him or her or them, _

_No, I'm not a cool kid…" _Her eyes had begun to narrow; she was focusing on her EVO arm all the while…

_"But hey, hey, girl_

_But hey, hey boy_

_How 'bout we just don't care?_

_How 'bout we just see, How 'bout we just see,_

_What it's like to be someone like me?_

_Hey girl!_

_Hey boy,_

_I just don't care, I just don't care,_

_Oh, oh, no, oh, oh, no,_

_I Just don't give a filthy little anything 'bout this, _

_Oh no, no, oh, no, no…!" _Loudly and off key as she can, she then suddenly felt her EVO arm cock and Vess aimed it at Biowulf. Before he could move out of the way missiles shot out from the tips of her fingers and detonated on Biowulf, sending him flying backward.

She smiled, feeling victorious. Then a thought hit her.

Her eyes widened. Oops…maybe she should of held back a little.

"Biowulf!" she cried, rushing over to help her uncle. "Are you OK? I-I'm sorry I didn't mean to hit you that hard-"

She was suddenly cut off by him pushing her a few feet back by kicking her hard, and when she rolled to a stop she laid on the ground in shock. What just happened?

"A fine rule of training," She heard her dad say with amusement dripping from his voice on the other side of the room, "Is to never let your guard down…and today- I guess that goes for both of you. Nice progress, by the way dear- you weren't a total coward. At this, I am pleasantly surprised."

She just laid there for a moment still in shock… but the smallest smile ever slowly crawled on her face, one that was barely noticeable.

-V-

**That's it for now! Hope you liked it, sorry if it was a little short. Working on the next chapter. ;)**


	6. Free time

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Generator Rex characters.**

—V—

Chapter six

"_Hold still_." Van Kleiss snapped, he voice sounding low and menacing. This was his usual voice.

Vannese tried not to fidget as her dad wrapped a bandage around her hand, or when he wrapped one around her upper torso, but she felt the need to move every time her compressing bonds insisted on squeezing her wounds.

"Ow!" she whined when she had fidgeted and felt pain in her injuries.

"It wouldn't have hurt," he said narrowing his eyes at her, "if you hadn't had moved."

She nodded but was still cringing.

He sighed and continued to dress her wounds. She continued to fidget.

"Ow," she muttered. He just gave her a warning glance and kept going.

He started to work on the scratches on her torso, while Vannese could all but hold still. After a while she started to fidget again. Van Kleiss found himself glaring at her.

"Stop that!" he barked when she started poking around her hand that had just been bandaged up. She immediately ceased and straightened herself up.

Soon she was all bandaged up and ready to go; with bandages wrapped around her palm and knuckles on her non-EVO hand, and bandages wrapped around her torso just above her gut. When his job was officially over with his daughter he immediately stalked off to his study. Vess sat there on the table with her legs swinging back in forth- then stopped because she realized it was childish.

She was admittedly tired, but not as exhausted as yesterday- much to her contentment training was over for today, and she had no assignments given to her by her father at the moment.

This could mean only one thing: _free time, baby._

Vannese hopped off the table. She had something special planed for her to craft on.

Vess walked over to her work area, first by swiftly moving through the tunnels that she knew like the back of her hand. Now she stood at her working station, and took deep breath of cool yet thin underground air. She indulged in this small moment of peace she hadn't had for the past two days, and then rolled her shoulders…

Time to get to work.

She got some of her basic tools out and went over to were an oil-smudged sheet veiled one of her mechanic creations. She pulled the cover off, revealing a black and golden-yellow colored machine (she liked those colors.) It was a jet pack…well, actually it was much more than that- but let's just call it a jet pack for now. It was going through the some of the final stages of being a prototype, but she had to work on it more if it was ever going to be fully functional.

She pulled her square, grey goggles from the top of her head and began to work on it.

The jet pack of actually more of a… flight exoskeleton. This flight exoskeleton was a system of small jets all connected by a harness-type mechanism of durable, stretchable, yet thin straps. The 'straps' would place the many jets in key areas that would efficiently support the body when in flight mode. These jets were round, about the size of the bottom of an average bottle, as thick as a one too, and used the energy of what would normally be used in a force field, creating the same effect but for pushing off the ground and for moving against gravity. The main or 'central part' of the machine stored and transferred energy throughout the jets. This central part was as thick as the average sized human spine and was just as long as one, it looked like a metal snake with a strange pattern of different materials- you would place this in the middle of your back, of course, where your spine would be. Then there would be the two main flight emulators, these kind of looked like strait bat wings, and had two basketball sized jets in the middle of them that looked like a bigger version of the secondary jets that would be placed in different spots of the body. The main flight emulators spread out of the central spine-part of the machine.

She thought it was pre_tty_ cool.

Vannese started by working on the central structure of the machine, tightening the joints on the spine-like configuration and then very, very carefully working on the delicate computer chip that was about as big as her thumb, inserting it into the machine. She tested the electric pulses that the chip should be sending information to do so. The test ran not as smoothly as she wanted, so she opened the small hatch were she had placed the chip and got out a tool to work on it.

She soon got wrapped up in her work like it was a blanket. Things were going pretty calm for her, and got into a steady pace…

Reset the hydrophilic chamber…check for loose bolts… line up the cables of the energy-inducer…

She was so wrapped up in her work that in fact she did not notice the person sneaking up behind her. Or when this person stood right in front of her and leaned on the table she was working on.

When Vess looked up her heart stopped and she jumped a full pace backward, "Ah!"

A devious grin grew on her Aunt Breach's face and she laughed. "You make it too easy,"

"Don't do that! What if I was working on something that could easily explode?"

"Then that's not the _only_ thing that could easily explode around here." Breach said tersely, though she was still smirking. "What are you working on?"

"A jet exoskeleton," she said gesturing to it, "A complex of jets connected by a metallic harness system with a central backbone of hydrophilic energy, one that uses the power of water and protonic forces to-"

"Now you bore me." Breach said, interrupting her. "Why don't you do something _fun_?" she frowned.

"Like what?" Vannese said hesitantly, not wanting to know how dangerous Breach's version of 'fun' was.

"Let's break a few rules," Breach's devilish grin was back.

Vess's tried not to shudder at the thought of breaking a 'few' rules… or at Breach's unsettling grin. She felt a stern look cross her face. "No. Whatever you have in mind, I do not think I bode well with it. I just want to do my work in peace."

Breach sighed, "You act just like Van Kleiss sometimes, such a kill joy…"

Vess looked over her shoulder a little, "You better not let him catch you saying stuff like that,"

"I'm not afraid of _him_; I don't always have to do what he wants. I do what _I _want."

"That's nice. Now leave me alone."

"But wouldn't you want to take a break from your boring work?"

"No, and it's not boring…"

Breach glared, "_I_ _say_ _it is_."

Vannese said nothing; sometimes not picking a fight is winning the battle.

Something must have crossed her mind because the childlike grin came back. "I can show you what the sky looks like if you think that your work is _so_ _entertaining_."

This caught Vannese's attention. "I'm not allowed to leave the underground complex," she said quickly, like she was saying that drugs were unhealthy for you. "If I did, bad things would happen to me. And even if nothing happens to me while I'm outside, my dad would personally kill me if he found out... and…and…-"

"Relax," Breach said putting one of her hands up, "Who said that anyone has to know? Plus we're not going outside_- at least not on this realm."_

"What?" Vess's eyes widened. "You mean another dimension don't you? I don't think that would be very safe at all."

"It's safe as long as you have me around- that is, if you're not on my bad side." She laughed in an unnerving way.

"No, I don't want to go see this…what you call "sky" in another dimension, thank you very much." Vess was hoping that would be the end of it.

Breach looked crestfallen, or at least she was acting that way. "Are you sure?" she said. "Think about it," shrugging causally, "There isn't much space in here is there?"

Vess raised one of her dark eyebrows like her dad would. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Your shiny little jet pack," she said gesturing to it. "Were do you think you're going to test it?"

"I was thinking the training room...and I consider it more of a jet exoskeleton, not a 'shiny little' jet pack. Jet exoskeleton sounds cooler, anyway."

"Whatever." Breach said yawning, "So… do you _really think_ that the training room has enough space for your little test?"

"Yeah," Vess said sincerely, the training room was the biggest space she could think of.

"It isn't. The sky has plenty of room…"

"Breach, no. I'm not in the mood of your antics today. Are you _trying_ to get me in trouble? You do realize that my dad would _kill_ me if I even thought about taking a step outside this place, right?"

Breach smirked. "Maybe a little…" Then she opened a portal and left.

Vess shuddered. Breach was just trying to mess with her- as usual.

She went back to her work. Thoughts kept bugging her though.

What did Breach mean when she said that the sky had plenty of room? What, was it bigger than the space in the training room? Vannese pondered about it even when she didn't want to…truth be told she was scared that her dad might somehow read her thoughts from far away while in his study- the man sometimes seemed like he had eyes in the back of his head.

She couldn't help but imagine a huge space that looked like the training room, but two times bigger- and she _still _had a feeling she wasn't imagining anything big enough for her to contemplate the sky. She felt deep yearning to see it. She also felt a deep fear.

Vess looked down at her 'shiny little' jet pack. It's black with golden undertone paint almost whispering for her to explore beyond her limits. She frowned without the knowledge she was.

_What was it like?_ She thought; _to be under such a thing as the sky?_

She bet the sky combined with her invention would be a heck of a ride…

She tried to imagine it again; but the image was just out of her grasp, like an itch in the middle of her back.

Maybe…just maybe…later, when the jet prototype is done, she might just have to ask Breach about her offer.

—V—

Van Kleiss was in his study, his fingers furiously tapping on a key board like he was playing a fast-paced Beethoven. Various symbols and charts filled the screen; its soft glow casting a blue light in his tired, bloodshot eyes.

He sighed in frustration. He had located nothing on the whereabouts of Hunter Cain, any information on where he could have gotten such sophisticated technology, or how it could have been creating such strong nanite signals. He had been balancing his own work with said impervious researching subjects, and now the effects of such tireless labor were starting to show, exhaustion setting in like a fine mist on a moist summer night… he felt like he might doze off at any second...

He growled at himself. What was this weakness? He must keep going.

Fingers continued to tap on a key board. The only sound in the quiet study was the _tak, tak, tak _of buttons being pushed at a quick steady pace.

Something other than the exhaustion ate at him.

It seems someone knows that he still lives…but how can such a person get to this kind of information? Is there a mole in his midst? Has he been bugged? A stray hidden camera perhaps? He frowned without the knowledge he was doing so. He didn't like not knowing the answer to something.

He smashed his fist on the desk.

One thing for sure, though, was that he was going to keep an eye on his allies and his environment.

—V—


	7. Pawns and Nights

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Generator Rex characters.**

**—V—**

Chapter seven

Vess tossed and turned in her bed.

After working on her jet pack she decided to turn in for the night.

Her rest, she found, was not peaceful.

Not even close.

She _was_ asleep, but her dreams tormented her. Nightmares flashed under her eyelids.

Her body fought the dream, her hands clenching and twitching upward as if she was punching something. Sweat was starting to form on her forehead. She tossed to the side. Her hand twitched again.

She could not escape her nightmare.

She didn't know about reality anymore. Reality was nothing…

—V—

_Vess was standing a few feet away from her dad in a blurry training room. She didn't notice the blurry backdrop; all focus was on her father. She didn't pay any attention to how she had gotten in the training room, or why he was standing in front of her, any logic whatsoever had been thrown away- it was as if things just popped up and happened this way- and that somehow made perfect sense to her. _

_Her dad's dark bangs covered his eyes; the two white streaks in his hair covering exactly were his eyes should be. His expression was darker than his hair-not angry, but something worse. Disappointment? Resentment? Hatred? She couldn't tell. It was scary though._

_Vannese felt scared and guilty at the same time, with no explanation behind it. She had done something wrong…she had done something wrong…she felt it._

_He spoke, emotionless in tone but the words didn't match. "Vannesesa Ascunse* Kleiss,"_

_She felt coldness in her stomach. Her full name. He said her full name- that is not good, that can't be good. He only says it when she has done something bad._

_"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…please…" She kept saying, and she felt like she had done something horrible._

_"You have failed me for the last time," he smiled a very dark smile and wagged a finger at her, "What am I going to do with you?"_

_She didn't know- she didn't want to know. Her hands covered her face yet she could still see everything._

_"Please…I didn't mean to…" Her words did nothing, she could just tell._

_ "I do not tolerate liabilities."_

_The words hurt._

_"I'm sorry…" she tried fruitlessly._

_"There is no sorry about it." he said without care, "There is only cause and effect, and you are not quite effective are you dear? All you are is a failure; even after all I have done for you. "_

_She sniffed, "I…I'm sorry…I will try very hard to get better…"_

_He raised his hand so she stopped talking, and his voice dropped low and cold "It is too late for that now."_

_Vess wanted to run far away, she wanted to be far away. She was too scared to move._

_"Please-"_

_"No." He said._

_Vines wrapped around her arms and legs, rooting her in place. She tried to pull herself away from them, but it didn't work no matter how strong she tried to be._

_"Dad stop!"_

_He didn't listen to her, he never does. _

_He walked over to her saying, "I can't have a liability."_

_"No!" She said flinching away, "Stop! Don't do this!"_

_Claws came out of his EVO hand._

_"No! Please don't do this!"_

_Vannese couldn't do anything before the needles tore into her flesh, draining the life from her._

_She didn't feel pain but she thought she did._

_She couldn't stop herself from screaming…and screaming. She was so scared._

_The world shook. She felt like a rag doll._

"Vannese…" he said. His voice was fuzzy and disoriented like her ears were filled with water.

"No!" she kept screaming. "Stop!"

"Vannese…"

She struggled like a fish out of water. Her nightmare was not over.

"Wake up," his voice was a little clearer now, like her ears had popped. It felt so far away.

She didn't process it. She continued to struggle. Vess screamed again.

"_Wake_ up…" louder this time.

She screamed, struggled, refusing to listen.

"Wake up! Wake up _now!" _ He barked.

Her eyes opened- Vess didn't realize that they were closed until now. It was dark and there were fuzzy shapes, which soon focused. She was in her bed sitting up with her dad's hands grasping her shoulders shaking her a little.

"Huh? *_Waar ging de planten_?" She said, confused.

"*…_De gând să-mi dea au un atac de cord_," He said under his breath, and then spoke at regular volume, "You were having some sort of night terror. Your screaming made me come in here. I had first thought there was an intruder." He spoke slowly, like he was explaining something to a toddler.

Her head felt like it had been filled with sand. "Night terror?" she asked.

He let go of her shoulders. "A panic attack but in a catatonic state, usually while in the process of a bad dream." He explained, "You were having a nightmare."

"Oh."

There was a short pause. "What was your nightmare?" he asked, still staring at her. His eye color looked really red in the dim light.

She was about to tell him but then held her words, remembering what it was. The details were slowly fading but the underline subject of the dream was still there.

She looked away, feeling like she had done something. Vess didn't want to tell her dad what her dream was.

"What was it?" he asked again.

Vess tried to think of a lie.

"I was…falling…" she said quietly. She averted his calculative eyes like the plague, and wished she was as good a liar as he was.

"Falling?"

She tried not to flinch at her guilt. "Yes…"

"You're lying." He said, and it wasn't a question. He was good at knowing when someone was lying or not. She wasn't that good at it anyway. "What was your nightmare?"

She squeezed her eyes shut. He was going to get angry with her.

_Get it out of the way_, her thoughts told her, _like pulling off a band aid._

Vess knew it was going to be worse than that.

She took a deep breath and the words came out before she knew she was saying them. "You were killing me. I had failed at something and you were killing me." Vannese wouldn't look at him.

There was a long silence and Vess's face burned with shame, she wished that he would just go away and they'd both forget about it.

"I had thought so," He said, almost to himself.

She looked up surprised. She didn't see his expression because of the dim lighting, but before she could think about what he meant he stood up.

"Go back to sleep," he said turning to leave but then stopped, seemingly contemplating something.

He turned back and brushed a lock of hair out her face, then left the room just as swiftly.

Vess was so surprised that she sat there for a full two minutes trying to figure out whether she had hallucinated the whole thing or not.

_What was that? _She thought._ Did he just give me a sign of affection?_ _Am I still in a dream?_

She shook her head after pinching herself. Her skin throbbed slightly.

Vannese's head had lolled back down to her pillow. She felt so tired but she didn't want to go back to sleep. She didn't want to be greeted by that nightmare again. She touched her face and noticed there were moist cold tears that had been there. She wiped the old tears away.

Not only had she been screaming but crying as well. Like a big baby. She hoped her dad hadn't seen the tears; that would be so uncomfortable.

She sighed and shifted in her bed, stared at the wall.

She wondered if her dad would actually kill her if he had a choice. Although he didn't say he would, he didn't say wouldn't either.

_No, he wouldn't do that. _She told herself. She told herself that over and over until it felt true.

Vess closed her eyes, though still didn't want to go to sleep. Where would her brain take her this time?

She yawned, Vannese felt so tired…head so foggy…but she fought it. The memory of her dad hurting her, even if it was just a dream, was like a fresh wound that bled every time she closed her eyes. Vess felt like dozing off would be the end of her.

Her eyes felt heavy- she fought it.

She wanted to yawn every five seconds- she fought it.

Her limbs felt like over-sized paper weights- she fought it.

She fought it all until she lost the battle, and got dragged out of consciousness and into the unknown. Soon her chest was rising and falling rhythmically with sleep.

—V—

Vannese blinked. She was standing in the middle a giant chess board. She was dreaming, but this was different, now she knew none of this was real, and that she was actually safe in her bed.

Vess looked around, white pawns, nights, bishops, rooks, and a queen and king game pieces lay on one side of the board. On the other side of the board was the same thing but with black ones.

The entire ceiling and backdrop that wasn't the board or pawns was darkness. It seemed the entire board was floating in some sort of dark nothingness.

Vess was confused. Why would she dream of a giant chess board?

The other thing that struck her as strange was how aware she was of her dream world. It was as if she was actually standing were she was. She waved a hand in front of her face, and then jumped up and down. It had feeling, but it was more like a ghost-feeling syndrome when you lose your arm.

It was then Vess noticed she had a visitor in her dream.

It was a woman with dark indigo-purple hair, with the same color lipstick. A large part of her bangs covered one of her eyes as it was swept to the side. She was wearing a long sleeved dark grey jacket with dark pants, a black belt and cape. Her boots were black too.

Vess took an involuntary step backward when she saw her. She has never seen anyone outside her family before, especially when it comes to a non-EVO.

The strange woman replies to this in a greeting tone, smiling causally. "You have nothing to fear from me, Vannese. I come as a friend."

Vess just stared at the stranger danger that has appeared before her.

_It's just a dream stupid, _she told herself, _what can she do to you if none of this is real? _She now felt a little silly that she had first thought that the woman posed a danger to her. The stranger wasn't even _real_.

She continued, "I have been waiting for this chance to meet you."

Vess raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" she said to the dream-person.

"Of course," the stranger gave a short laugh, "Where are my manners? My name is Black Knight."

"…Hello," Vess said, the name not holding any significance to her. "My name is- oh wait, you've already been using my name to address me."

She nodded. "I know many things about you."

"Ok." Vess said. She figured dream-people knew everything about you since your brain made said characters up.

Black Knight smiled a friendly smile. "And I know things about you that you don't know yourself."

"Uh…ok." She replied, not believing it. How can a dream know more than her? That wouldn't make any sense.

Black Knight's smile became more sly than friendly, though Vess didn't notice the change. "I realize that you are a very smart girl, so of course I'd have to prove myself before we continue."

"That would be… sufficient." She said skeptically. Then thought, _continue to what?_

"Consider this first thing I tell you a freebie," Black Knight said, unfazed by the skepticism in Vess's voice. "Tattooed on the back of your neck is a set of numbers. When you wake up, you can check it yourself- it'll be there."

_Numbers?_ Vannese thought, and then shook her head. How would she not know there was a _tattoo_ on her own body? That would be ridiculous, she has never gotten a tattoo before and she'd think she would know if she did.

These thoughts probably shown on her face because Black Knight raised an eyebrow at her as if to say, _you can see for yourself when you wake up._

Vannese didn't know what to say other than, "Why would there be numbers on the back of my neck? If they are even there, I mean."

Black Knight smirked wagged a finger at her, "That first one was a freebie remember? You have to earn the answers I'm afraid."

She tried not to look impatient, reminding herself that none of this was real. She normally wouldn't mind waiting for or having to earn something but when it came to _answers_ she wanted to know right away right now. She didn't like not knowing the answer to something.

"Ok. How would I earn them?" Vess asked, trying not to come off as desperate.

Blank Knight gestured to the giant chess board that they were standing on, "How about we play a little game of chess?" She smiled at her again with a strange knowing in her eyes. "You know how to play right?"

It was Vannese's turn to smile. "Yes, I do." Chess was the only game that her father would tolerate to play with her. She still remembers when he taught her how to play, all those years ago, it was a fond memory. She of course was beaten a lot by him but over the years she has gotten better, even winning against him sometimes.

Vess remembered the bad dream from before and flinched.

Black Knight didn't seem to notice. "Good. I'll be the black ones and you be the white ones. If you win, I will give you an answer about yourself." Black Knight said.

"And if I lose?" Vess said folding her arms.

"Then you will have to tell _me_ something," Black Knight said, the sly version of her smile was back. "To a question of my choice."

Vess thought about it, a strange eerie feeling coming to her. This dream was indeed strange…something was just _off _about it. Something that felt wrong. She looked over to this Black Knight character, who stood there looking at her expectantly.

What was this information that Black Knight wanted to know? Vannese wondered. Whatever it was it felt like it might be something that is dangerous in the wrong hands, and she didn't exactly trust this virtual stranger.

Vannese felt tempted though. She has never been one to turn down a game of chess, or the prospect of learning an unknown answer- even if it might not be real. Combine the two weaknesses and it was like she was trapped in a net.

The mystery of it all still called to her. Vess could not resist any longer.

_What is the harm of a game anyway?_ She thought. _Besides, it is just a dream right?_

"Ok," Vess finally decided. "I'll play your game."

Black Knight had a look to her like she had just won something…and Vess couldn't help but feel like she had just lost- she just didn't know what yet.

The look was gone in a flash but Vess's feeling didn't go away.

"Excellent, I must warn you though; I won't go easy on you. When I play, I play for keeps."

"As do I," Vess said.

Black Knight gestured to the white game pieces, "You're white, so you go first. Move the pieces with your mind, just think of the piece you want to move and think about where you want to move it." She says this said like it was an everyday thing.

Vess let her gaze travel to the white pieces- they were giant, about as tall as her father. All the pieces were. Vess didn't know that if just _thinking _would move them. Black Knight didn't have a hint of doubt when she told her how to do it, Though. Without much to lose, she focused on one of her pawns and then on a square. One of her pawns moved two spaces forward. She did that. _By just thinking._ Vess knew it was just a dream but it was still really cool.

Vess couldn't help but bubbly laugh, "This is amazing!"

Black Knight smiled, "The game is only just beginning."

Vess didn't even think about the ominous comment, she was still caught up with the chess pieces. "How did my dream end up this great? Everything feels so real…"

One of Black Knight's chess piece's moved- a black pawn advanced one space.

Vess grinned and thought about her next move.

Soon they were both caught up in the game. It seemed like everything else in Vess's life disappeared and was consumed by the complex of chess. Black Knight indeed turned out to be a worthy opponent, taking one of her bishops and a couple of her pawns early on in the game. Vess had managed to take a pawn from her as well as a rook. Vess remembered to perform a castling maneuver at the early part of the game too, putting her king in the safest place possible from capture at her corner of the board. Time seemed to get lost, and the game continued. Pieces moved on the board, big and tall by just the force of the mind. Some got captured, some didn't. Vess forgot about her troubles for the moment. There was only chess…

…Vess moved her queen three squares….

…A pawn moved… then a bishop… a rook…another pawn…

Black Knight move a knight, and then smiled. "Check mate."

Vess looked around the board, surprised, and realized she was right. "Your good." Vess was impressed.

"I always am," She replied. "Now, about our deal…"

Vannese listened intently, remembering their agreement from earlier. A deal _was_ a deal.

"What do know about the projects your father gives you?" Black Knight said.

Vess blinked. That was a strange question- but she didn't see the harm in it, since all of this was just a dream. And those projects Black Knight had just mentioned were just simple assignments that her dad gives her.

Plus, she kind of liked Black Knight- Vess thought she was nice and fun to hang out with now that they had played a friendly game of chess.

Vess wracked her brain, "I work on a lot of assigns, and each little part I work on has to do something with energy. You know, allot of machine parts I build seem to function as a process of transferring energy. There are of course exceptions to this, though."

Black Knight smiled at her, "Thank you, that was very helpful."

Vannese couldn't help but beam. She felt glad to help her new friend, even though she didn't know exactly what she had helped her with. "Can we play another game?" she asked, exited.

"I am afraid we can't, you're about to wake up soon."

Vess cocked her head, "I am?" She said, confused.

They _had_ taken a large amount of time playing chess. She must of lost track of time…

"Yes, you are." Again, Back Knight shown no doubt to her- she never seemed to show any doubt in anything, at least not in the amount of time Vess had been with her.

Vess felt disappointed, believing what Black Knight said. For some reason she had grown to trust her a little. "But will I get to see you again? This has been fun." She pouted. It seemed like they had just started playing the game a few minutes ago.

"Of course." Black Knight said with the friendly smile back on her face. "I could come back tomorrow if you'd like. We could become good friends."

Vess perked up, "Yes! I'd like that." She had never had a friend before.

"But you have to promise me something…"

Vess nodded. Anything for her new friend.

"Don't tell your family about me ok? Especially that father of yours, Van Kleiss. Let's keep our little game to ourselves… you can do that for me right?" Black Knight looked into her eyes expectantly.

That fazed Vess a little. Why would she care about what her family thought of her? Why did she not want them to know about her? Black Knight wasn't a bad person, and Vess was sure that her family would think so too.

Black Knight was so friendly to her… Vess felt angry all of the sudden. _Her family had never let her have any friends._ "Yes. I won't let my family know about you, I promise. It's our little secret."

Black Knight's smile was back. "Good."

—V—

Vannese's eyes opened. She felt a wave of disappointment, wanting the nice dream to keep going.

She groaned. Why does everything that she likes slip through her fingers?

Vess kicked off her covers and went into the bathroom to get ready for the day. Tooth brush soon in hand, making sure she got the backs. She thought about something while staring into the mirror.

_Numbers…_

It was a long shot, but it didn't hurt to try and see.

She opened a cabinet under the sink and got out a small handheld mirror. Vess turned around, pointed the small mirror and the large one while moving her hair away from her neck.

Vess did a double take.

_5476291_

It was there, right on the back of her neck…she has never seen such numbers before…

_She was right. Black Knight was right._ Her thoughts said in realization.

_But that means…_

Vess didn't know how that could be possible.

She wondered what this could now mean for her…for the coming future.

The dream was real?

How?

But…she had woken up from it…

Vess didn't know what any of it meant, but she felt strangely cold.

—V—

**Authors note:**

**Some of the choices I made explained:**

**_*Ascunse = this means "Veiled" in Romanian. I chose this to be Vess's middle name because not only is she veiled from the world, but from a bunch of other things too._**

**_"*Waar ging de planten_****?"= this is Dutch for "Were did the plants go?" I think that Vess should know little parts of Dutch learned from her dad.**

**"*…****_De gând să-mi dea au un atac de cord_****,"= This is Romanian for "…Going to give me a heart attack" -I chose for Van Kleiss to say this in Romanian because his history suggests that he's been in different parts of the world, which in turn means that he knows a bunch of different languages. I think that I'm also going to introduce different languages in ****both**** the Kleiss's vocabulary in little bits throughout the story.**

**Also on an unrelated note; Van Kleiss means "of this earth" in Dutch, which refers to his plant-controlling abilities when on Abysus.**

**Thanks for reading this so far! Next chapter is being worked on. :)**


	8. Shattered in Training

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Generator Rex characters.**

**-V-**

Chapter eight

Vess's thoughts wandered around for the rest of the morning. Her attention kept coming back to the numbers on the back of her neck.

Did those numbers even qualify as a tattoo? How was it inked into her golden neck collar like that? It was like the numbers programmed into computer, or printed on a piece of paper, like she was some sort of systematized object.

But more important questions plagued her mind:

_Why are those numbers even on the back of my neck? Who put them there? When did the tattoo get there? Did I always have it and not realize, or was recently put on me without my knowledge? How did I not know about a freaking tattoo on the back of neck? Does my dad know about it? How did Black Knight know? Who is this Black Night? How did she get into my rem sleep? Is she even real? Is all of this just my crazy imagination? Am I crazy?_

Vannese wondered these questions over and over. It was like a personal hive of bees inside her brain.

_…Am I crazy?_ She wondered again.

Did she imagine it all after having the night terror, using the other dream to cope with the stress…?

But Vess saw the numbers on the back of her neck- as clear as day! She knew she did.

_How?_

Vess was sure that one does not simply have a dream about something totally unknown to the dreamer, only to find it was totally true. Stuff like that doesn't happen.

_But it did._

_But how?!_

Vess sighed hotly.

She didn't know the answer. She didn't like not knowing the answer to something.

Skalamander broke her from her thoughts by throwing a bunch of crystal shards at her.

Oh, and she was going through training. She didn't like that too.

Vess narrowly dodged it by flinging herself out of the way. The shards missed her by literally fractions of an inch. Vess got up and broke into a run, out of the way of other incoming crystal shards. She felt sharp movements in the air around her as some spikes came all too close to her.

She wasn't that good at training- this has been showing in her mind's eye.

She was getting better of course, but Vess still felt like her life was on the line each session- and each moment of every session. If she wasn't running out of the line of incoming fire like a headless chicken right now, this would be bothering her.

Vess wasn't good at fighting… sure, she learned how to use one of her powers quickly- but that was just because it was her body's natural response to danger. All it took was a little will of power as well as practice. But when it came to actual fighting? Hand to hand combat? Physical coordination? Reflexes? She might as well be trying to start a fire with a bucket of water- useless. She was useless.

Vess was a child prodigy, a girl genius- but she can't get her hands and feet to do what she wants them to do, she has the attention span of a fly, and her reflexes were that of a toothbrush. She could learn a computer algorithm quickly, but learning a fighting move takes her longer- like a slug. It just didn't come to her naturally. And the only reason that she was smart was because she liked learning, her dad was a genius himself, and he had vigorously introduced sciences and technology to her at a very young age.

Her brain was just wired for learning, her dad had insured that…fighting, however, was left out of the learning course. And she was finding out why- she stunk at it. It was as if she was made to stink at it, like a fish is meant to swim, but not to walk.

Why can't she be good in combat like the rest of her family? Her dad was good in combat _and_ was a total genius. So why can't she be smart _and_ strong like her father was?

Incoming shards. Emerald, sharp as heck, and had her name written all over them.

She felt the hard ground crunch beneath her shoulder as she flung herself out of the way like last time. Not getting a chance to get up before more came at her; Vess rolled out of the way- one shard thinly scratching her leg. It was hard to ignore the pain, she'd admit, but Vess was forced to; training wasn't over yet.

Vannese got up quickly, hearing each thump of her heart in her ears. She ignored the pleas of her consciousness to crawl into a ball and give up. The fear kept her going. She was too scared, too much of a coward to give up and face her family. She didn't want to be a failure…

She didn't want to be a failure.

That would be her worst nightmare.

Vannese broke into a run again, this time fueled by more fear than ever. She strides were hard and pounded against the training room floor.

_Hey! _Her thoughts said;_ I have a stupid idea!_

_Not now,_

_At least hear it out first!_ Her thoughts chirped.

_Ok…_

The idea was heard…and yes, it was stupid.

Vess should really know better.

She swerved and changed directions, this time going directly towards Skalamander, in the line of what would be incoming fire. It was suicide- anyone with eyes can see that. She knew that- she wasn't counting on getting out of this without scratches, at least.

More shards came at her, and a split second before she had hit the deck. She felt several scratch her in the back as she flattened herself on the ground. She bit her tongue to keep from crying. The pain was stomach turning.

_Must not be a failure, must keep going…_

She rolled herself over while Skalamander took a short moment to regroup his powers. It felt like her back had a personal powwow with a cheese grater. It took effort…tears threatened in her eyes…

The old crystal shards that had just been thrown at her lay a few feet away from where she was now, embedded in the floor of the training room. She knew that they would land near her, when she came in the trajectory of Skalamander's fire. He would have to anticipate for Vess coming closer so he shot lower than usual, coming into the ground from a sideways angle instead of going forward far away to the other side of the room.

Now for yet another risky part…

Vess shakily got up, and with her EVO hand she gripped one of the larger crystal shards and pulled it out of the ground with some effort. She moved quickly, a clock ticking inside her head.

Nanites were inside these shards, she could feel them as she grasped the sharp objects in her hands. Little tiny bundles of power, hidden right… there...

The needles from her EVO gauntlet came out. Time to use Skalamander's shards to her advantage.

She sunk her needles into the green shard that she held in her hands. She willed the crystal to grow; to be what she thought would be the best image of it.

_Please work…please work…please work…_ She thought desperately, the threat of what to come making her heart grow cold with fear.

For one terrifying moment she thought that her plan had failed.

…Then the crystal grew into a decent sized shield. It cracked and groaned in her hands, until she was holding a diamond shaped defense block.

Vess let out a sigh of relief that she had been holding, wanting to collapse to her knees with elation.

Instead though she had to continue with training.

She stumbled a few steps back as crystal shards hit her shield. Each shot that hit her rattled her teeth and made her almost fall over. She hoped her shield was faring better than she was, and that it would last long enough for her not to get sliced.

Vess slowly took one step after another. The pain on her back was increasing and she felt weak, but she was too scared to show any weakness- weakness was a bad thing that she shouldn't have.

In the next break of fire she picked up the pace and came at Skalamander, now having more protection against the coming crystal attack.

_Thunk –thunk –thunk –thunk –thunk –!_

More shards hit her shield, and she stumbled backward at the force. After steadying herself she started up again.

This process took forever- or at least in her perspective it did. The shield protected her, but she got pushed around every time fire hit her shield…she hadn't planned for this. She hadn't planned for her back injuries to be this painful and weakening either. Vess thought it would just be a couple of scratches when she had first gone at Skalamander, and as for the shield she thought that the crystal bullets would just bounce off like rubber.

This was harder than Vess originally thought it was going to be.

She was close to Skalamander now, a few paces ahead of her, and she figured it was now or never to return fire. She felt the power grow in her EVO gauntlet. Deep breath…

_Smash!_

The shield shattered like glass, spraying razor sharp broken crystals everywhere, mostly hitting her.

Vannese was pushed backward by the force.

When she rolled to a stop she was aware now that she was in serious pain and she just-

…

—V—

_…Fuzzy shapes…_

_…Numbers…lots of numbers…_

_"….It is a mistake."_

_"…-How did this happen?"_

_"…The chromosome-random mutation -…the nanites-…the DNA was not fully accepted-… "_

_"Destroy it and start over. The nanites would not be able to function in its body like we've planned. .."_

_"But look! The nanites are acting just like in the original-…it gives us proof-…EVO transformations aren't as random as we thought-…possibilities…-"_

_"Invalid-…-too risky… -We have enough information in the DNA database, anyway."_

_..Fuzzy shapes…people…one person standing in front of shape distortion glass._

_Ears filled with water…everything submerged in water…everything so big…_

_Numbers…5…4…7…6…2…9…1…5476291….1011010110101001011101101001100001010101110110101…2…_

_Abort… abort…abort…_

_Red flashing lights…_

_Blackness._

_…_

—V—

Vannese's eyes flew open. "Kas?" she croaked, and then flinched "Viss sāp... kāpēc?" she said confusedly.

Vess tried to sit up after realizing she was lying down…only to feel sharp pain. "Ah!" she groaned, her curiosity and confusion went into a hazy overdrive of; "What's…what? Where-why…? What?" now switching back to her native tongue.

Huge headache as if on cue- her head now felt like it was filled with cement.

Her vision was very blurry. Black and grey smudges.

Vess moaned… cursing something under her breath, then mentally apologizing for using such words. She tried to shift away from her uncomfortableness, squirmed. Nothing felt better though.

Pain. Was her back on fire? She felt pain everywhere…

"_Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh_."

"I see your awake." Said a fuzzy voice from far away.

"What…? Who are y-you?" she coughed, "What happened?" memories were starting to form but they manifested in broken pieces like shattered glass.

Shattered glass. She vaguely remembers something shattering; of sharpness and pain…the pain didn't go away…

"_Ow_." She muttered.

"It seems you've been injured while in training." The fuzzy voice starting to sound clearer, "I have to say, that little plan of yours was… smart enough, when you used that shield like that- I was surprised. You used your powers without my guidance…"

Vess was starting to recognize the voice, and slowly remembered what happened.

Van Kleiss continued. "…But honestly, your form going in was idiotic, sloppy- and your plan wasn't thought through. Did you really think that a simple shield would aid you against Skalamander? And the way you waited until the last second… that sentiment in itself was senseless. Your shield was weakened, and Skalamander easily smashed through it with his crystal arm. You need to think more clearly before you pull stunts like that- I saw that you were very distracted today, and you gave your opponent many advantages without even knowing it. You _let_ your _head_ get in the way."

He shook his head at her now. "Failing, like this, is absolutely unacceptable- in any other circumstance you would have been killed."

Vess felt crest fallen. That whole thing was stupid wasn't it? She thought. Vannese really could have been killed.

Then she felt dread pierce its way into her heart, she had just _failed_.

_In front of everyone…_

_ No. No. No. No._ She couldn't have failed, failure was bad…

But she did. And she was paying the price for it. The pain all over insured that.

"Now," Her father continued, "You are not to move from the table for the rest of the day, obviously, since your wounds need time to heal. I have already dressed your wounds, and you seem to be doing fine. The shrapnel only fractured minor areas of the body, as well as for your numerous scratches. No internal damage, though you may have fractured a few ribs. Your body should heal in a day, more or less, by the aid of your nanites." She heard him turning to leave, "get some rest. Tomorrow you will go through training as normal if your body isn't still healing." He finished before walking off.

She gulped, training tomorrow sounded downright awful right about now.

Vess turned her head so she could stare at the ceiling.

_Stupid…stupid…stupid…_She thought. _Stupid!_ Why did she have to go and pull that stunt? Now she was a total failure because of it!

Vess huffed. Angry at herself. Angry at everything. Mostly humiliated. She hated being a failure, being a failure meant she wasn't good enough. She didn't want to be not good enough- in her eyes, or in her family's.

_Especially_ not in her family's eyes. That means everything to her.

Tears threatened- and not because of the physical pain that coursed through her. She shoved them back-she didn't deserve the luxury of crying. Crying would only make things worse anyway.

Why did everything have to be so hard and complicated?

She sighed, still staring at the ceiling. Her father must be so disappointed in her…

Vannese would rather not think about it- she'd rather think about anything else.

The dream she had earlier floated into her thoughts. She grabbed on to the subject like a lifeline, wanting it to take her away from her thoughts of being a failure. It was faded and she couldn't remember the details but it was indeed strange.

She remembered the numbers…the fuzzy shapes… but she couldn't grasp were she was, what was going on. Who were the people talking? What were they talking about? Why did she feel like she was floating in water? Vannese didn't know the answers. She didn't like not knowing the answers to something.

Maybe the dream was nothing, but it confused her still.

She tried to make her memory grow, to grab more details from the dream. She used her brainpower to try to conjure up a clearer vision but none of it worked. The dream remained to be an allusive, unclear mystery.

Why did she have a feeling that it was something important? That she was just missing something?

She sighed again. Nothing was clear to her and she didn't like it.

Her head lulled to the side. The pain was just so uncomfortable that it spread into her thoughts. She must have a million scratches. The fractured ribs her dad had mentioned was also not helping. And the fact that her body was trying to heal itself at a fast rate.

The world became blurry once more…and she had the extreme urge to just let go and go to sleep. She felt warm all of the sudden. Was there a blanket on her? She didn't know. The warmth told her that she should go to sleep.

_Yes…that's a perfect idea…go to sleep…I should go to sleep…_ She thought hazily.

Maybe it was something about how your body heals faster during sleep but Vess wasn't thinking about that. All she thought about was how tired she was. Tired of everything, of failure, of fear, of confusion, of pain…

So she just let go, and let the blackness engulf her once again.

…

—V—

**Author's Note: ****Kas? Viss sāp... kāpēc? =****This is Latvian for: What? Everything is pain...why? This sounds jumbled on purpose because she's just waking up from being knocked out- you'd be a little jumbled too if that were you. Remember, I want her and Van Kliess to know different languages because VK's history suggest he knows allot of different languages, and she'd pick that up from him. I want them to share something, even though they don't exactly have what you'd call a great relationship. Even though they're not 'close' per say, I think them having to share a bunch of different traits would make things interesting.**

**Ok now I realize I'm ranting. Don't judge me...**

**Anyway next chapter is coming soon! A big thanks to vetty123, enamis and YellowAngela for the support! And thank anyone else for taking the time to read this :)**


	9. Uncertainty of Pawns

**Authors note: Hey peoples! This chapter was originally part of chapter 8 but I realized it ran a little too long so I cut in half- and that's how you got this chapter so quickly, hope you like it! ;)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Generator Rex characters.**

—V—

Chapter 9

Vannese opened her eyes to a giant chess board. One with black pieces on one side, and then white on the other. The entire board seemed to float in nothingness. She stood in the middle of the chess board just like last time. The checkered expanse of the scene surrounding her.

Vess smiled in spite of herself, feeling elated to be back for some reason.

She couldn't help but wave a hand in front of her face like she did before, in wonderment of how real everything felt and how aware she was in the dreamscape. It was still all amazing to her.

"Vannese," said a friendly voice, "welcome back. I'm happy to see you again."

She turned around to see Black Knight, and smiled again. She could use friendly company right about now. "I'm happy too," she replied.

"How was your day today?" Black Night said diplomatically, a strange knowing smile on her face.

Vess thought about it, remembering how her horrible day went and not wanting to talk about it. Finally she decided to shrug and say, "It was fine- normal."

Black Knight cocked her head to the side in an almost casual motion, "You seem troubled, though." She said this with such confidence, and the weird thing about it was that she was right- even though she didn't even see how Vess's day went. Black Knight had the same strange knowing smile as she said, "Am I correct?"

Vess nodded slowly, "I…yes, how did you know?" She said, giving up on lying to her quickly, a little fazed by her unwavering correctness. She has never seen Black Knight mess up something _once_.

"I know a lot of things about you, remember?" Black Night replied calmly.

Vannese tried to ignore how weird that comment was, reminding herself that she was among a friend. And why would Vess be one to judge anyway? It's not like she has a lot references on how people act.

"What's bothering you?" Vannese's new friend asked.

At first she felt reluctant to say it out loud but soon Vess sighed, "I messed up…I had failed right in front my family- in front of my dad."

She really felt like she could trust Black Knight for some reason. It was something about how confident she was, how Black Knight treated her like an equal- Vess has never been treated with such equality before, with such care, and Vess loved it. Vess liked being treated this way, and wondered if this is what having friends was like.

"Would you like to talk about it?" Black Night said.

Vannese shook her head and looked at the ground.

"That's ok," she replied, "You don't have to."

Vess smiled at Black Knight, glad to not have to say anything about it. She was so understanding and kind! Vess was so glad that she was her friend.

Black Knight had a sly smile to her that Vess didn't even notice. "You know…you really don't have to beat yourself up over what your dad thinks of you."

Vess was surprised by this. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Why should you care so much about what he thinks?"

Vess shrugged. "He's my dad…he knows more than me, and I'm not as good as he is at a lot of stuff." And then said again, "He's my dad," as if that fixed everything.

Black Knight nodded her head with acknowledgement. A veiled intention behind indigo eyes. "Those are all good points…but what has he ever done for you?"

"He…he taught me all that I know." She said, not getting Black Knight's point.

"And that's great. But are you sure he did that for you? It seems that it benefits _him_ than it does you."

"I like what he taught me. I do what I love to do because of it." Vess referred to her engineering skills.

"Do you think it would matter if you loved it or not? Do you think he would care?" Black Knight said, "The assignments that he gives you are very valuable to him, and with your mind he could have them made while he goes out to do field work, giving him time for his plans to move quickly. Are you sure that you're not just an asset to him?"

Vannese has never thought about these things…mostly because she never really had to. Vess has always been content for some reason, life just goes on. But when Black Knight says it…it does seem a little unfair.

But…no. She has memories going back to her very early life stages, and she's known her dad forever, she not just an asset to him- that would make no sense to her.

"I'm sure," she says, "That I'm not just an asset. The assignments he gives me are just chores, and whether it benefits him or not is just how it is, I guess."

"Since when has he done anything that benefits you, though?"

Vess thought about it, still not getting Black Knight's point. Maybe she was testing her. Finally Vess said, "Oh, I know! He gives me food so I don't die." This felt like the right answer to her.

Black Knight for the first time had an annoyed look on her face, but it quickly vanished from sight in less than a moment.

"Are you _sure_ there aren't things he can do a little better for you?" She asked with an air of being overly patient.

Vannese sensed that she may be causing her friend distress so she thought about the question again. The events from the day came into her mind…she thought about all that Black Knight had said…

"He can be a little more caring…I mean; I'm trying as hard as I can." She said this hesitantly, the feeling of spite slowly being planted inside her, though not really knowing if it was right or not. She didn't want to get in trouble.

Black Knight's sly smile was back. "You are absolutely right. All you ever do is try you're hardest." She then frowned, "…And does your dad ever show appreciation for it? You at least deserve to be treated kindly don't you?"

Vess frowned too. Black Knight had very good points. "…yeah…sometimes…-sometimes I wish he could show to me that he cares about me." She then admitted, "I-um, occasionally wonder if he even cares…at all. I know that it is irrational to think like that, but…"

"But you can't help but feel like you're just some lesser thing to him? That you're disposable?" Black Knight said, finishing her sentence.

Vannese was surprised; it seemed like Black Knight knew how to read her very thoughts. This woman must be a genius.

Black Knight probably saw the surprise on Vess's face because she continued, "I don't make you feel like you're disposable…so why should he?"

"Yeah," Vess said realization dawning on her, "why should he?" Her fist clenched tight. "It's not like I've done anything to make him feel that way before."

Vess soon backtracked after calming down, realizing what she said. "But…maybe he just doesn't know that he makes me feel this way."

Black Knight glared, which made Vess shrink away a little- surprised at how fast her demeanor could change between friendly to intimidating. "He wouldn't care either way." She said with a cold voice.

"That's not true," Vess said quietly, not understanding why her friend was trying to make her think the man who raised her was bad. What she just said hurt her feelings- mostly because she didn't know if what she said was true or not.

Black Knight raised an eyebrow and her, "Are really so sure?" the strange knowing smile was back, like she had won at something.

Vess felt like she was lost.

"If you were, you wouldn't of had that nightmare."

Her eyes widened. "What nightmare?" she asked, but she already knew the answer.

Black Knight laughed, and Vess felt uneasy. "The one where your dad tries to kill you, does that ring a bell?"

"How did you even know about that?" Vess said, "…How-how do you _anything _about me? How did you get inside my head?!" She felt like reality was made of spaghetti right about now- everything felt wrong.

"Vannese, please. I'm your friend remember?" She said, smiling once more, as if she was talking about another conversation.

"I…" Vess said hesitantly, not knowing what to say to that. Then after taking a deep breath, "You're not acting very nice."

Black Knight frowned. "What I'm doing is _necessary._ How safe do you feel to say that Van Kleiss isn't actually going to dispose of you?"

"He-"Vess was starting to say but was interrupted.

"You already messed up once today, right? How many chances do you think he'll give you before he snaps?"

Truth be told, she didn't really know where she stood with her father. But it's normal right? She didn't know what to say to her though- Vess didn't know the answer.

Black Knight seemed to sense this too. "I want you think about it after you wake up. Which will happen in just a moment…"

Again, with the confidence that woman gave off- had she ever been proven wrong once in her life? She certainly didn't act like it. Vess hoped that Black Knight wasn't right all the time, because that could mean some bad things about her dad… Vess couldn't help but feel a little swayed by the way Black Knight didn't seem to have a hint of doubt, by the way she seemed so determined and aggressive…

But Vess doubted her too though. Something was off.

"Remember, our meeting is our little secret right?" There was an edge to her voice.

Vannese nodded numbly. "Right…" she mumbled- she felt that questioning her at the moment was a little too risky.

"Don't forget to think about what I said." Black Knight finished.

Vess just nodded again. She did indeed have _a lot_ to think over…

—V—

…

Vannese opened her eyes, this time not feeling as devastated to leave the chess board. She did, however, ache all over. The pain from training had lessened into a dull throb while she was asleep. The room was dark, and she was still on the same cold medical table as before. Her dad must've turned the lights off while she was asleep. Her internal clock told her that it still wasn't morning yet.

Vess frowned at the ceiling.

So many questions, so much doubt, so much fear and uncertainty. Too much has happened, too much to sort through. Not enough answers.

_Why does everything have to be so complicated? _She thought miserably.

When did her easy normal life get this way, why did all of this have to happen? She didn't know.

Her head hurt, and she tried not to groan.

Even though she didn't want to, she thought about what Black Knight had said about her dad seeing her as disposable.

Would he…? No he wouldn't. He wouldn't end her life- not after raising her.

But…still…

Vess was uncertain. She was uncertain about everything. She was uncertain of Black Knight, of her dad of her family…

And of herself.

—V—

John Scarecrow moved out of the dark shadows and slipped through the door of an abandoned warehouse, the door unlocked. No sound was heard but the crickets in the night. The sky was dark and clouded, no stars shown on this day.

"I'm here." he said into the large, seemingly empty space.

Not waiting for an introduction, a figure moved in the warehouse and stepped into the dim light that came from a rusted light bulb that hung from the ceiling.

"You're late." Annoyance ringing in the voice.

Scarecrow snickered, paying no mind. "Yeah, since I got my powers back I was messing with people upstate pretending I was the president...-"

"Shut up," The figure snapped. "You remember our deal right? You get your powers back, and you help me in return with your…skills."

The only thing that hinted eagerness was a sickening smile that cracked upon Scarecrow's face.

"Yeah, so what do I have to do in return? Steal something? Dispose of someone?"

"In a matter of speaking." The figure replied. "I will give you a set of coordinates and send you to Van Kleiss's base. Transport is already taken care of."

"_Van Kleiss_?" Scarecrow replied with surprise. "He's still in business? And here I'd thought that old vampire was locked up in providence with a million years to life- or even more likely, dead."

"Are you willing to do it or not?"

Scarecrow's smile was back. "Sounds like fun. Do you want me to kill him?"

"I will instruct you what to do and who to kill, and after you're done you can kill as many of The Pack as you want. I do have a few rules though," The figure said diplomatically.

He listened.

"Under no circumstance do you kill this one,"

The figure then tossed an object, the picture skirted across the floor and stopped right in front of Scarecrow.

John Scarecrow picked the picture up and stared at it quizzically. "Wow..." he muttered, "It looks just like-"

"I am well aware of that," the figure interrupted impatiently, "And I want it alive."

"Whatever floats your boat," John said tossing the picture to the side. It fell to the ground in the dim light a few feet away from him. "What do you want me to do once I get there?"

The figure smiled. "I will tell you that momentarily- I need you to insure me that you can do this."

Scarecrow morphed into an appearance. Long black hair, two white streaks- a trench coat and a gauntlet. Van Kleiss's face smiled at the figure and with his new accented voice he said, "of course I can... _I'm_ _me._"

—V—

**Thanks for reading it! Next chapter is in the works. :-) Good day to you all!**


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